Dishoom in legal battle over rhyming slang for curry

For anyone who has ever felt a little Hank Marvin after a few too many King Lears, a Ruby Murray is invariably the only remedy.

But the name – Cockney rhyming slang for curry – is at the centre of a legal battle over the rights to the use of the 1950s singer’s name.

Dishoom, the fashionable food chain, has lodged legal papers with the Intellectual Property Office (IPO), the government body overseeing trademarks, to try to strip a London businessman of monopoly on the right to use Ruby Murray to describe curry.

On May 15, the company’s lawyers applied to revoke a registration secured five years ago by Tariq Aziz to use the Belfast singer’s name for all things curry-related.

Dishoom, which has restaurants in London, Manchester, Edinburgh and Birmingham , has been using Murray’s name as a heading for curries on its menu, as well as serving its own Chicken Ruby. 

The chain, which recreates Irani cafes once common in Bombay, claims Mr Aziz has not used the name Ruby Murray in a commercial way, so the registration should be revoked.

A Dishoom spokeswoman said: “A third party has a trademark registration for Ruby Murray, and we don’t believe that they have ever used it. There is a principle of ‘use or lose it’ in trademark law, and we have therefore asked the UK IPO to remove the Ruby Murray mark from the register.

“Dishoom is not seeking to apply to register Ruby Murray in its own name. It wishes to remove the ‘monopoly’ on the use of Ruby Murray so it can be used freely by anyone when referring to curry.”

In 2019, Mr Aziz successfully registered Ruby Murray as a food and drinks trademark. The following year, the company director set up Murray Ruby Limited, described ny Companies House as “take away food shops and mobile food stands”. Mr Aziz filed his latest accounts for that company in January, showing it was trading.

Mr Aziz, who remains the owner of the trademark,  said:  “I was surprised when I received a letter from the IPO. I don’t want the trademark to be revoked. I am trading under the trademark Ruby Murray. 

“We have a premises in Islington, north London, called Ruby Murray. It’s closed for refurbishment at the moment, but will reopen soon. We also have a ready to eat range which we are looking to expand with frozen foods.”

An IPO spokesman said: “An application to revoke the trademark registration on the grounds that it has never been used was filed on May 15. 

“The registered owner has until July 15 to indicate whether they will offer a defence. If they fail to do so, the trademark will be revoked and removed from the register. Any defence offered will be considered before a decision is made.”

‘Part of our language and heritage’

When Mr Aziz obtained the trademark, Tim Murray, the son of Ruby, who died in 1996, was angry that the IPO had not contacted his mother’s family before granting rights to her name.

At the time, he said: “Everyone knows that Ruby Murray is Cockney rhyming slang for curry – it is part of our language and heritage. A government body should not be allowed to grant a single businessman the sole rights to use her name for financial gain.”

Fears Mr Aziz’s trademark might have prevented other curry restaurants from using the name Ruby Murray appear not to have been borne out. An internet search of the name suggests a number of companies are using the phrase for curry restaurants.

In 2019, a blue plaque was unveiled in Belfast to mark where Murray, who rose to fame with her hit Softly, Softly, was born and brought up.