New Brunswick Indian Restaurant Must Pay $700,000 to NYC Eatery for Using Name

New Brunswick, NJ - A popular New Brunswick Indian take-out restaurant has agreed to pay $700,000 to a New York City eatery that says the Hub City spot stole their name, colors, restaurant decor and even their Facebook page design.

Kati Roll and Platters, at 56 Easton Avenue in New Brunswick, agreed to pay $700,000 and change its name after it was sued by The Kati Roll Company, a restaurant in Greenwich Village owned by Payal Saha and her husband.

A kati roll is a beloved Indian street food, made up of spiced meats, cheese or vegetables wrapped up in a warm paratha, or Indian flatbread.

Niraj Jivani, the owner of Kati Roll & Platters, told NJ.com he agreed to settle simply to "get Saha out of his hair." He has since changed the name to Nirvanis Indian Kitchen. It's still at 56 Easton Avenue.

"From day one, she got mad that I had twice as many customers and the legendary white sauce that we made," Jivani told NJ.com. "She's mad that she lost all of her New Jersey customers to me."

But the Greenwich Village owners see it very differently.

"We found that not only had they borrowed elements of our decor ... (but) even online on Facebook and a couple of other places, they positioned themselves as the official The Kati Roll Company," Saha's husband, Anil Bathwal, said. "That is when we got a little more serious about it."

New Brunswick wasn't the only city targeted: Saha and her husband also sued another New York City eatery, Kati Junction, for trademark infringement. Under that settlement, Kati Junction agreed to change its name, remove the color orange from its signage and menu and make changes to its recipes.

Photo: One version of a kati roll or, kolkata roll.