The Madras High Court on Tuesday (November 25, 2025) refused to restrain costume designer Joy Crizildaa, who claims to have married one of the directors of popular catering company Madhampatty Thangavelu Hospitality Private Limited, from hashtagging the unregistered trademark ‘Madhampatty Pakashala’ in her social media posts due to a personal dispute between the two individuals.
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Justice N. Senthilkumar dismissed the interim injunction application which sought to restrain her from tagging, hashtagging, making, writing, uploading, publishing, broadcasting, distributing, posting, circulating or disseminating any false or malicious material, statements, videos, reels, captions or photographs disparaging the “goodwill” of the trademark Madhampatty Pakashala.
The injunction application was filed along with a civil suit instituted by the company which claimed to have suffered cancellation of catering and food services contracts worth several crores of rupees due to the reported damage caused to the trademark ‘Madhampatty Pakashala’ by Ms. Crizildaa just because she had a personal domestic dispute between her and the company’s director T. Rangaraj.
Senior counsel S. Prabakaran, representing Ms. Crizildaa, had filed a detailed counter affidavit and vehemently opposed the grant of any kind of interim injunction against his client.
During the course of arguments on the interim injunction application, senior counsel P.S. Raman, assisted by Vijayan Subramaniam, representing the plaintiff company, had told the court that it was incorporated on August 30, 2010 and made a mark in the catering and food services business under the brand name ‘Madhampatty Pakashala.’ It had become very popular over the years.
Stating that its popularity was due to the hard work of all individuals involved in the business and the quality of food served by them, the senior counsel said the company had also invested a substantial sum of money to create awareness among the public with regard to its high quality catering service and that it had gained several high profile clients across the State.
The concerted efforts had led to the brand ‘Madhampatty Pakashala’ becoming a trusted name in the hospitality industry and its clientele included eminent personalities, celebrities, politicians, corporates as well as government and private institutions. It had also been covered widely in culinary journals and other media.
Joy Crizildaa’s social media posts on Rangaraj
However, in July 2025, the company came to know about Ms. Crizildaa having begun to post defaming messages on her social media handles by hastagging the company’s brand name Madhampatty Pakashala, Madhampatty group of companies and other brands associated with it, Mr. Raman said.
On its part, the company, in its plaint, said: “The trademark of the plaintiff is being wilfully defamed by the first defendant (Ms. Crizildaa), who, with malice and ulterior motive, has been propagating false and scandalous allegations that she shares an alleged marital relationship with Rangaraj, one of the directors of the plaintiff.”
The plaint went on to read: “These allegations are wholly false, concocted, and devoid of any factual basis, and have been deliberately made to tarnish the reputation of the plaintiff’s trademark ‘Madhampatty Pakashala’ and other brands and its management before the public.”
Stating the personal affairs of an individual director could not be used to disparage the reputation of the company built over years of hardwork, commitment and goodwill; the plaintiff said, such acts of the defendant would cause serious reputational and commercial loss to the company.
The plaintiff urged the court to restrain the defendant from tagging, hashtagging, making, writing, uploading, publishing, broadcasting, distributing, posting, circulating, or disseminating any false or malicious material, statements, videos, reels, captions or photographs disparaging the “goodwill” of Madhampatty Pakashala.
It also sought a direction to her to delete the defamatory posts made in her social media handles and accounts.
Published – November 25, 2025 11:44 am IST
