Delhi High Court has issued an order today against a Delhi-based company called ‘DAP & Co.’ and its owner after a plea by cricketer Gautam Gambhir. Gambhir said that the restaurant was using his name as a tagline for its eateries and lounges business. After reviewing Gambhir’s plea, the bench comprised of Justices G S Sistani and Sangita Dhingra Sehgal issued a notice to DAP & Co which runs two pubs — Ghungroo and Hawalat — in Punjabi Bagh area of west Delhi. What brings an interesting twist to the tale is that the name of the owner of DAP & Co is also Gautam Gambhir. The Delhi High Court expects a reply from the restaurant’s owner till March 20.
Gambhir had earlier raised a plea in December 2017 which was dismissed by the court then. The plea was presented to a single judge bench. The plea by Gautam Gambhir which was sent to the court by senior advocate Rajiv Nayar said that the mentioning of the name ‘Gautam Gambhir’ gets associated with the cricketer only and no one else. Gambhir’s plea said the tagline ‘by Gautam Gambhir’, tends to create confusion in the mind of the public regarding the fact that the plaintiff has some association or connection with the said restaurants.
Last year, the single judge bench, which had dismissed cricketer Gambhir’s plea by said, “Nothing has emerged on record if there was any loss to the goodwill of the plaintiff (cricketer) in his field that is Cricket because of the running of the restaurants by the pub owner with the tagline in his own name.”
Cricketer Gautam Gambhir said that it was way back in November 2016 when he got to know his name being used by the restaurants with the tagline ‘by Gautam Gambhir’. Gambhir said that he had absolutely no connection with the restaurants.
Meanwhile in the cricketing world, in the 1122 strong list of players registered for auctioning in the IPL 2018, cricketer Gautam Gambhir’s name could well be on it. This could also mean Kolkata Knight Riders and Gautam Gambhir have parted ways. KKR has retained two players, both from the Caribbean team West Indies: Andre Russell and Sunil Narine.
