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TMI Blog2003 (4) TMI 403X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... atma Gandhi, father of the nation, is picking up salt. According to the petitioner, the trade mark Dandi itself gives an impression that it has to do something with the historical march started by the father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi during freedom struggle. This march was by way of protest against Salt laws and the respondents are selling their salt brand named as Dandi with a picture which is similar to the picture of Mahatma Gandhi and his followers taken at the time of Dandi march which has become so famous in the country for number of decades and that it is being taking almost as a sacred documentation of Mahatma Gandhi and freedom struggle. The petitioner contends that the pictorial representation and the name itself of the product ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... filed by respondent No. 1, it is submitted that they are not manufacturing any salt in the name of Dandi. Before coming to the legal position, we would like to deal with the objection raised by respondent No. 2 in the first instance that the matter is res judicata as the matter has already been decided by the High Court of Bombay and an appeal has been dismissed by the Supreme Court. We have gone through the orders passed by the Bombay High Court and also the Supreme Court in SLP. The High Court of Bombay passed the following order on 12-4-2002; "Heard. The contentions of the petitioner are misplaced. We do not find any merits in the matter. The petition is dismissed." Thereafter the matter was taken to the Supreme Court in SLP (C ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ssion of the Central Government or of such officer of Government as may be authorized in this behalf by the Central Government." Under this provision no person except under conditions prescribed by the Central Government can use the names or emblems specified in the Schedule of the Act and 9A of the Schedule lays down that, the name or pictorial representation of Chatrapathi Shivaji Maharaj or Mahatma Gandhi or Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Shrimati Indira Gandhi, or the Prime Minister of India except the pictorial use thereof on calendars where only the name of the manufacturers and printers of the calendars are given and the calendars are not used for advertising goods. So, if one reads section 3 with 9A of the schedule it becomes clear that ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... do with Mahatma Gandhi. The pictorial exposition is similar to the pictures of Mahatma Gandhi taken at the time famous Dandi march. Dandi in itself is as much associated with Mahatma Gandhi as Ahimsa or as Sabarmathi Ashram. Therefore, in our view the respondents 1 and 2 are in violation of section 3 of the Act. 6. The learned counsel for the petitioner has, however, drawn our attention to a judgment of Supreme Court in Cadila Health Care Ltd. v. Cadila Pharmaceuticals Ltd. AIR 2001 SC 1952. The questions raised in this judgment were not questions relating to interpretation of the Emblems Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act but were related to Trade and Merchandise Marks Act (43 of 1958). The Supreme Court in this case conside ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... deception and causing of confusion. 7. The respondents are selling salt, Dandi march was associated with an agitation relating to salt. It is well known that in 1930 Gandhiji accompanied by residents of Sabarmathi Ashram and thousands of his followers set out for Dandi which is a place south to the Sabarmathi Ashram at Ahmedabad. He publicly flouted the Salt laws and declared that he would not return to Sabarmathi Ashram until the Salt laws had been repealed. Dandi was an unknown village of now the Gujarat State but it became well known because of Mahatma Gandhi s Dandi march. So, salt is similar, Dandi is similar and the photograph, which became so famous that it can be recognized by almost every citizen of India, is similar. All these ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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