Cinema goers in Chennai will have to choose carefully between Kasi Theatre and Kasi Talkies in West Jafferkhanpet as the Madras High Court has vacated an interim injunction, issued by it on March 19, restraining the previous owner of Kasi Theatre from naming his new theatre as Kasi Talkies.
Justice S. Vaidyanathan vacated the injunction on the ground that Palson Enterprises, which had purchased Kasi Theatre in 2002, had approached the court after a delay of eight months since the seller M.K. Mathivathanan, son of Kasi Nadar, started a new theatre named Kasi Talkies at a nearby location in July 2018.
The judge said Palson Enterprises had “slept over the matter” for long despite having received an invitation for the inauguration of Kasi Talkies. He added that the plaintiff company would be entitled to claim damages if it ultimately succeeds in the main civil suit after appreciation of oral and documentary evidence.
In so far as the present application for vacating the interim injunction was concerned, Mr. Mathivathanan was entitled to succeed, he added. According to the applicant, Kasi Nadar had purchased 23.40 acres of land in Jafferkhanpet in 1958. However, the Tamil Nadu Housing Board acquired a major portion of the land.
The applicant’s father was left with 8.41 acres which he developed into residential, commercial and industrial plots. Around 80 plots were sold and the layout was named as Kasi Estate. In 1984, the applicant constructed Kasi Theatre in memory of his father and the cinema house was run successfully by him till 2002.
In 2002, he sold the land as well as the theatre building to Palson Enterprises but did not assign the trademark ‘Kasi.’ He claimed to have made several requests to the purchaser to change the name of the theatre but instead of acceding to the request, Palson Enterprises got the name registered under the Trademark Act.
The applicant contended that such registration would not give the purchaser the right to claim ownership of the trademark ‘Kasi’ since it happened to be the surname of the applicant besides being a generic term. It was also pointed out that the applicant had been carrying on business in entertainment and media industry through Kasi Communication and Media Works.