This appeal was filed before the Madras High Court, under Section 91 of the Trade Marks Act, 1999, to set aside an order passed by the Trade Marks Registry, Chennai on 01.05.2019 (\u201cOrder\u201d).<\/p>\n
Raghuvar (India) Limited, through its former company (predecessor-in-interest), Rohtas Industries Limited, had been using the trademark \u2018HANUMAN\u2019 for edible oil vanaspathi since the year 1966. Meanwhile, S.A.S. Refineries (P) Limited filed an application for the trademark \u2018JAI HANUMAN\u2019 in Class 29 for edible oils under Application No. 861833. When the trademark \u2018JAI HANUMAN\u2019 was advertised, the Appellant opposed the application.<\/p>\n
However, the opposition was rejected by the Registrar of Trademarks, as per the Order on the following grounds:<\/p>\n
Considering the above grounds, the Registrar of Trademarks directed that the application proceed further, provided the mark, \u2018JAI HANUMAN\u2019, was restricted for sale in South India upon deleting vanaspathi from the specification of goods.<\/p>\n
Aggrieved by the Order, the Appellant filed the appeal, citing that:<\/p>\n
Upon examining the documents placed on record by the Appellant, it was observed that no evidence of use of its mark in any of the South Indian states was submitted. In this circumstance, the Court concluded that no interference with the Order was warranted. Hence, the appeal was dismissed with no costs. This case reinforces the principle that evidence of actual territorial use is also necessary for successful opposition.<\/p>\n