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 using the name of the unregistered trademark ‘Madhampatty Pakashala’ as a hashtag in her social media posts due to a personal dispute between the two individuals.
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 judge agreed with senior counsel S. Prabakaran, representing Ms. Crizildaa, that the plaintiff company was not entitled to any kind of interim relief since it had failed to establish that his client was hashtagging the name of Madhampatty with the intention of causing injury to the catering business and that the company had, in fact, suffered revenue loss as a result of her action.
Justice Senthilkumar said the plaint filed by the company was bereft of any details regarding the cancellation of its catering contracts due to the act of the costume designer. Only a typed statement in the letterhead of the company had been produced to claim that certain contracts had been cancelled, and even that statement was bereft of details such as the reason for cancellation and so on, he added.
In its plaint, the 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 company said it 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.
“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 read.
It went on to state, “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 hard work, commitment and goodwill, the plaintiff said, such acts of the defendant would cause serious reputational and commercial loss to the company.
The company 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
