Battle for Butter Chicken Inventorship gets Spicier: Who, When, where on the Plate?

In a first of its kind, we have seen a legal suit being filed by the Delhi Restaurants Moti Mahal against Daryaganj in January 2024 to claim inventorship of the much-famed dish Butter Chicken.

As months have passed, it has now become a battle of Legacy vs Legality. The contention between the two eateries is on who invented the dish first, where it was invented and when it was invented. The legal battle has now garnered the attention of food bloggers, crtics, social media and TV channels worldwide.

The court will have to rule on where, when and by whom the dish was first made - by Gujral in Peshawar or Mr Jaggi in New Delhi, or if both should be credited. The Point to be noted is that both the Men are dead and by virtue of the friends’ partnership, both parties are claiming that their respective ancestors created the dishes.

Stakes are high because Butter chicken is ranked 43rd in a list of world’s ‘best dishes’ by Taste Atlas and claiming the title of inventorship will raise the brand image world over for the eateries.

Both the parties have produced in non-public filing of evidence in black-and-white photograph from 1930s showing the two friends in Peshawar; a 1949 partnership agreement; Jaggi’s business card after relocating to Delhi and his 2017 video talking about the dish’s origin.

Jaggi or Gujral, 1930’s or 1947, Peshawar or New Delhi, all these questions must be resolved to give the credit to one of the restaurants. The eatery which will be credited as an inventor will have a huge advantage globally and in terms of customer appeal.

Moti Mahal operates a franchisee model with over 100 outlets globally. Its butter chicken dishes start at Rs 650 only in New Delhi and are priced at Rs 2,000 only in New York. The eatery has the likes of Late US President Richard Nixon and India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru visiting the outlet.

Whereas Daryaganj started in 2019 and its butter chicken costs Rs 600 only. It has 10 outlets, mostly in New Delhi, and future plans to expand to other Indian cities and Bangkok.

In its 2,752-page Indian lawsuit, Moti Mahal has alleged Daryaganj of copying ‘the look and feel’ of the interiors of its outlets which is again a “Trade Dress” violation. Meanwhile, Daryaganj has furnished photographs of their restaurant interiors claiming Moti Mahal that has copied its ‘design of floor tiles’.

The next date of the hearing is on 29 May, the Delhi High Court will have to frame all these issues and then decide upon them.

To conclude, I feel that the tag line of inventorship is important as a business strategy and will bring credibility , but customers will always prefer quality and the service of over creation of a dish. All eyes will be on the court decision to see how Inventorship of dishes and recipes will be protected by law in future and what advantage the first creator of a dish gets in terms of business competition. To end on a lighter note as these eateries exist close to each other , I remember the Onida tag line “ Owners Pride Neighbours Envy” which suits the best for the eatery to leave it to the public to decide on their choice .

(The writer is Head –Legal & IPR, Resolute Group of Companies.)