Calcutta HC: Award May Be Set Aside if Tribunal Rewrites Contract or Ignores Key Clauses  ||  Delhi HC Suspends Kuldeep Singh Sengar’s Life Term, Holding Section 5(C) of POCSO Not Made Out  ||  Calcutta High Court: Arbitration Clause in an Expired Lease Cannot be Invoked For a Fresh Lease  ||  Delhi High Court: 120-Day Timeline under Section 132B Of Income Tax Act is Not Mandatory  ||  NCLAT Reaffirms That Borrower's Debt Acknowledgment Also Extends Limitation Period for Guarantors  ||  NCLAT: Oppression & Mismanagement Petition Cannot Be Filed Without Company Membership on Filing Date  ||  Supreme Court Quashes Rajasthan Village Renaming, Says Government Must Follow its Own Policy  ||  NCLAT: NCLT Can Order Forensic Audit on its Own, No Separate Application Required  ||  NCLAT Reiterates That IBC Cannot be Invoked as a Recovery Tool for Contractual Disputes  ||  Delhi HC: DRI or Central Revenues Control Lab Presence in Delhi Alone Does Not Confer Jurisdiction    

Lal Babu Priyadarshi v. Amritpal Singh - (27 Oct 2015)

Title of religious text not ordinarily registrable as trade mark

MANU/SC/1260/2015

Intellectual Property Rights

The Supreme Court left little room for interpretation in its ruling against registration of a trade mark in ‘Ramayan’ to be used on packaging for incense sticks, perfumes and the like. It replied resoundingly “NO”, to the question of whether a person could claim trade mark in the title of a holy text. However, it added that with suitable suffixes or prefixes, the title could be made to lose its religious sanctity and thus become registrable. The Court also noted, perhaps wryly, that with over 20 traders in Patna alone using ‘Ramayan’ in some form or other for the same products, its discussion on registration was moot, given the word had “become public[i] juris” and common to trade.

Whereas prominent religious text as a trade mark may at first appear forbidden legal territory, it was very much a case of the Gods striking fear in the heart of the law makers just as much. The Standing Committee which submitted reports on the Trade Marks Bill, 1993, chose to take a passive approach in ‘cleansing’ the intellectual property system of religious marks. Fearing “chaos in the market”, the Committee had instead recommended removing registered marks on receiving complaints, and not registering such afresh.

Relevant : National Bell Co. v. Metal Goods Mfg. Co. (P) Ltd. and Anr. MANU/SC/0369/1970 Mumbai International Airport Private Limited v. Golden Chariot Airport and Anr. MANU/SC/0746/2010 Section 9 Trade Marks Act, 1999 Act

Tags : TRADE MARK   RELIGIOUS TEXT   TITLE   PUBLIC JURIS  

Share :        

Disclaimer | Copyright 2025 - All Rights Reserved