The Delhi High Court has overturned a September 2025 order that had refused temporary relief to WOW Momo Foods, according to Bar and Bench. The court has now barred the use of the name ‘WOW BURGER’, ruling that it infringes on WOW Momo’s registered trademarks, which are WOW MOMO, WOW DIMSUMS, and WOW MOMO INSTANT.
The decision was delivered by Justices C. Hari Shankar and Om Prakash Shukla, who allowed WOW Momo’s appeal against the earlier order that had rejected its request for an interim injunction in the trademark case.
‘Consumer inclined to presume association between two marks’ – What Delhi HC said
The judges observed that combining an exclamation like ‘WOW’ with the name of a food item creates a unique and distinctive identity. They noted that the earlier ruling had focused only on whether ‘WOW’ by itself was distinctive, without considering how the entire phrase, when used with a food name, stands out as a creative and recognisable trademark.
“A consumer of average intelligence and imperfect reflection, who is aware of, or has seen, the appellant’s mark WOW MOMO would, when he later comes across respondent’s mark WOW BURGER, be, at the very least, inclined to presume the existence of an association between the two marks,” the Bench said.
The Court added that the earlier judgment did not properly consider that the use of the ‘Wow Burger’ name infringed on WOW Momo’s trademark. “This presumption of association, which arises out of the similarity between the marks WOW MOMO and WOW BURGER, and the fact that they are both used for fast food, would result, within the meaning of Section 29(2)(b) of the Act, in infringement,” the bench said.
WOW Momo’s stance and legal action
WOW Momo had said that it coined and started using the mark WOW! MOMO in 2008 and now runs over 600 outlets in more than 30 cities. According to its complaint, the company found out in December 2024 that WOW Burger, planned to start business in India using the name WOW BURGER and similar logos. WOW Momo then approached the Commercial Division of the Delhi High Court to stop them from using the mark, arguing that it violated its ‘WOW’ family of trademarks.
However, a single judge had rejected this request on September 12, saying that ‘WOW’ is a common English word and not distinctive, and that WOW Momo could not claim exclusive rights over it. Following the judgement, the company filed an appeal before the Division Bench.
