AIR 2005 SUPREME COURT 1999 ::2005 AIR SCW 1241 ::2005 CLC 385 (SC) ::2005 (1) CopyTR 211 ::2005 SCFBRC 479 ::(2005) 1 WLC(SC)CVL 430 ::(2005) 65 CorLA 62 ::(2005) 2 All RentCas 876 ::(2005) 2 CivilCourtC 261 ::2005 (3) SCC 63 ::2005 (2) RecCivR 112 ::(2005) 2 Scale 407 ::2005 (1) All CJ 643 ::2005 (1) CurCC 230 ::(2005) 3 All WC 2934 ::2005 (2) BLJR 929 ::(2005) 1 Cg LJ 358 ::2005 (2) ICC 683 ::2005 (2) MadLJ139 ::2005 (2) JabLJ 304 ::2005 (3) SCJ 39 ::2005 (30) PTC 233 ::2005 (2) SLT 620 ::(2005) 2 Supreme 450 ::(2005) 29 AllIndCas 244 (SC) ::2005 (29) AllIndCas 244 ::(2005) 2 JT 505 (SC) ::2005 (3) SRJ 534

Supreme Court Of India

(From : Madhya Pradesh)*

Hon'ble Judge(s): B. P. Singh, P. K. Balasubramanyan , JJ

(A) Trade Marks Act (47 of 1999) , S.135, S.27, S.29— Passng off action - Claim for grant of injunction - Can be made in respect of unregistered trade mark also. Section 27 of the Trade Marks Act, 1999 provides that nothing in that Act shall be deemed to affect the right of action against any person for passing off goods or services as the goods of another person or services by another person or the remedies in respect thereof. Therefore, the fact that neither party has a registered trade mark as on the date of the suit cannot stand in the way of entertaining the claim of the plaintiff and granting the plaintiff an injunction in case the plaintiff is in a position to show prima facie that it was the prior user of its mark, that it had a prima facie case and that the balance of convenience was in favour of the grant of an interim injunction. It is provided in S.39 of the Act that an unregistered trade mark may be assigned or transmitted with or without goodwill of the business concerned. It is, therefore, possible for a plaintiff or a defendant to show that an unregistered trade mark that was being used by another person earlier had been assigned to it and that it can tack on the prior user of its predecessor.(Para 6) (B) Trade Marks Act (47 of 1999) , S.135— Civil P.C. (5 of 1908) ,....