August 16,2018:

While Referring to case Vishnudas Trading v. Vishnudas Kushandas, Supreme Court Bench stated that,“The proprietor of a trademark cannot enjoy monopoly over the entire class of goods”.

NANDHINI Deluxe a Bangalore based restaurant chain approached Supreme Court in NANDHINI Deluxe v. M/S. KARNATAKA CO-OPERATIVE MILK PRODUCERS FEDERATION LTD., after a series of arguments with Deputy Registrar of Trade Marks & Intellectual Property Appellate Board.

Karnataka Co-Operative Milk Producers Federation Ltd. has been producing and selling milk/milk products, since the year 1985, obtained registration for their mark ‘NANDINI’. M/S. Nandhini Deluxe, who are in the business of running restaurants since 1989 applied registration for their mark “NANDHINI”.

Advocate Sushant Singh, who appeared for Nandhini Deluxe, presented his case that goods and services of Nandhini Deluxe were totally different from that of the Karnataka Milk Producers Federation and there was no scope of confusion as both belonged to different businesses.

S.S. Naganand, Senior Advocate who appeared for federation presented his case differently, he felt that outside the city of Bangalore, the public was not aware of the restaurant and “NANDHINI DELUXE” & the mark used by the federation over Karnataka is related exclusively to the Federation.

SC Bench comprising of Justice AK Sikri and Justice Ashok Bhushan compared the marks and observed that though they were phonetically similar but they are not are deceptively similar. The style adopted by the appellant and the respondent were presented differently as well.

SC Bench then proceeded to set aside the High Court and IPAB orders.

Apex Court restored the Registrar’s order allowing registration in favour of Nandhini Deluxe, subject to the condition that registration will not be given in respect of those milk and milk products.

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Read Judgment @LatestLaws.com:

SC Judgment in Nandini Deluxe v. Karnataka Co-Operative Milk Producers Federation Ltd (Download PDF)

SC Judgment in Nandini Deluxe v. Karnataka Co-Operative Milk Producers Federation Ltd by Latest Laws Team on Scribd

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