{"id":147854,"date":"2026-02-10T10:33:01","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T05:03:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/?p=147854"},"modified":"2026-02-10T10:33:01","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T05:03:01","slug":"trade-mark-rectification-gm-modular-against-gmw-mark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/trade-mark-rectification-gm-modular-against-gmw-mark\/","title":{"rendered":"When GM Modular Finds a Look-Alike: Trade Mark Rectification Against \u2018GMW\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<h5>Background of the dispute<\/h5>\n<p>The Petitioner, GM Modular Pvt. Ltd., owner of the \u2018GM\u2019 trademarks has been using the mark for a wide range of electrical goods, electrical switches, accessories, appliances, and electronic components since 1999.<\/p>\n<p>In August 2024, during a routine survey of the online records of the Trade Marks Registry, GM Modular came across a registration for &#8216;<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"longdesc-return-147855\" class=\"wp-image-147855 alignnone\" tabindex=\"-1\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GMW-300x153.jpeg\" alt=\"GMW\" width=\"100\" height=\"51\" longdesc=\"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia?longdesc=147855&amp;referrer=147854\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GMW-300x153.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GMW.jpeg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 100px) 85vw, 100px\" \/>\/GMW\u2019 (\u201cImpugned Mark\u201d), in Class 11 bearing Application No. 1978669 covering electric fans, blowers, heaters and parts and accessories. Respondent No.1, an entity trading as Grand Metal Works (Mumtaz Ahmed) had filed the application on 11.06.2010, claiming use since 01.04.2007.<\/p>\n<p>Aggrieved by the similarity of the Impugned Mark, GM Modular filed a rectification petition before the Delhi High Court under Section 57 of the Trade Marks Act, 1999, seeking removal of the registration.<\/p>\n<h5>Proceedings before the Court:<\/h5>\n<p>Despite service on Respondent No.1, none appeared on its behalf. Accordingly, Respondent No.1 was proceeded ex-parte, and Respondent No.2, the Registrar of Trade Marks, acted as a formal party to comply with any directions of the Court.<\/p>\n<h6>GM Modular contended that:<\/h6>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>It is the prior adopter and user of the \u2018GM\u2019 trademarks since 1999.<\/li>\n<li>It owns several trademark registrations across Classes 6, 7, 9, 11, 17, 21, 37 and 38.<\/li>\n<li>Its artistic logo is also protected under copyright.<\/li>\n<li>The Impugned Mark \u201cGMW\u201d is visually, structurally, phonetically, and conceptually similar to GM.<\/li>\n<li>Both parties operate in identical and allied goods, increasing the likelihood of confusion.<\/li>\n<li>The Respondent No.1\u2019s adoption was dishonest and intended to ride on GM Modular\u2019s significant goodwill.<\/li>\n<li>The Delhi High Court, in GM Modular Pvt. Ltd. v. Mayur Electromeck Pvt. Ltd., had earlier directed rectification by deleting the Mark \u2018GMW label\u2019 registered under Trade Mark No. 1332839 in Class 9 from the Register of Trade Marks.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5>Analysis and Findings:<\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>GM Modular\u2019s prior use rights, registrations and continuous use of the GM marks were taken into consideration.<\/li>\n<li>The Court applied the settled principle that a prior user\u2019s rights override the rights of a subsequent user even if the latter\u2019s Mark is registered.<\/li>\n<li>Respondent No.1\u2019s subsequent adoption for identical goods was held to be wrongly remaining on the Register of Trade Marks, warranting rectification under Section 57 of the Act.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5>Conclusion:<\/h5>\n<p>The Court directed Respondent No.2 to remove the Impugned Mark from the Register of Trade Marks, disposing of the matter. Further, a copy of the order was directed to be sent to the Trade Marks Registry for compliance.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Citation: Gm Modular Pvt. Ltd vs Mumtaz Ahmed &amp; Anr on 17 January, 2026, Delhi High Court, C.O. (COMM.IPD-TM) 176\/2024 &amp; I.A. 39130\/2024. Available at: <a title=\"Gm Modular Pvt. Ltd vs Mumtaz Ahmed &amp; Anr on 17 January, 2026\" href=\"https:\/\/indiankanoon.org\/doc\/84273958\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/indiankanoon.org\/doc\/84273958\/<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Authored by Ms. Benita Alphonsa Basil.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Trade mark rectification under Section 57 was allowed for removal of the \u2018GMW\u2019 mark from the Register of Trade Marks. Prior user rights in \u2018GM\u2019 were recognised for identical and allied goods.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":147856,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":69,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,5495,6],"tags":[12527,486,12528,5856,12526,7195,12525,1731],"class_list":["post-147854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trademarks","category-case-reviews","category-intellectual-property","tag-class-11","tag-delhi-high-court","tag-gm-modular","tag-prior-user-rights","tag-register-of-trade-marks","tag-section-57","tag-trade-mark-rectification","tag-trade-marks-act-1999"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147854"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147854\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":147858,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147854\/revisions\/147858"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}