Indian Kanoon - Search engine for Indian Law

1. This hearing has been done through hybrid mode.

2. These are four writ petitions filed by different Petitioners who have been forced to approach this Court invoking its extraordinary jurisdiction under Article 226/227 of the Constitution of India, in view of the completely arbitrary and discriminatory manner in which the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks/Respondent (hereinafter "CGPDTM") has disallowed the Petitioners from filing oppositions to the trademark applications, which each of them wishes to oppose. The said oppositions have not been entertained on the ground that they were proposed to be filed beyond the time period of four months, as prescribed under Section 21 of the Trademarks Act, 1999 (hereinafter "Trademarks Act").

5. Moreover, in all the three writ petitions where registration certificates have been issued, the certificates of registration are stated to have been issued after filing of the writ petition and after advanced copy had been served on the CGPDTM. This position is disputed by the registered proprietor of the trademark in question i.e., Respondent No. 3 in W.P.(C)- IPD 103/2021.

6. Heard. At the outset, it is noted that Section 21 of the Trademarks Act read with Rule 42 of the Trademarks Rules, 2017 (hereinafter "Trademarks Rules"), provides for a period of four months for filing of oppositions to a trademark application. The said section reads as under:

10. There can be no doubt about the fact that the above order would be applicable to filing of oppositions under Section 21 of the Trademarks Act as well. The fact that this order is applicable to the filing of oppositions is also clear from the public notice issued by the CGPDTM dated 18th January, 2022, which records that the period of limitation shall be computed in accordance with the earlier order of the Supreme Court dated 10th January, 2022. The said public notice dated 18th January, 2022, reads as under:

15. The matter was heard thereafter on 16th March, 2022, and some counsels submitted that apart from the figures given by the CGPDTM, various oppositions were also permitted to be filed beyond the period of limitation under Section 21 of the Trademarks Act. Accordingly, on 16th March, 2022, the following directions were issued:

"3. Pursuant to the previous order dated 10th March, 2022, a short affidavit on behalf of the Registrar of Trademarks & GI, has been handed over in the Court. Copies of the same have already been served upon other counsels.