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TMI Blog2010 (7) TMI 272X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d., under section 22 of the Companies Act, 1956 ("the Act") and directing the petitioner under section 22(1)(b) of the Act to delete the word "Pharmaplan" from its existing name and change its name to some other name within three months from the date of the said order. 2. Respondent No. 2 NNE Pharmaplan India P. Ltd., was incorporated initially on 30-12-1997, under the name Pharmaplan (India) Ltd. The present director of the petitioner Mr. Ravi Saxena joined respondent No. 2-company on 5-6-1998. It may be mentioned that the main business of respondent No. 2-company was to provide services as technical and industrial consultants and engineers especially to planning, consulting, engineering, plant and equipment supply, pharmaceutical, bio-te ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r; emphasis is essentially on the prefixed words 'NNE' of the plaintiff and 'CGMP' of the defendant. They are not only worded differently, the manner and the nature of the composition of alphabets is also distinct; they are not likely to cause confusion or deception in the minds of the proposed customers to whom the defendant is offering its services." 7. It is stated that respondent No. 2 had filed an appeal against the said order which is pending before a Division Bench of this Court. No stay of the operation of the said order has been granted by the Division Bench. 8. In the meanwhile, the hearing in the application filed by respondent No. 2 before respondent No. 1 proceeded on 18-1-2010. The written submissions were also filed at the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e of the petitioner was either identical with or "too nearly resembled" the name of respondent No. 2, respondent No. 1 proceeded to examine if the petitioner's name caused "misleading effects" in the mind of the general public. Thus, respondent No. 1 had treated this as an action for infringement under the trademarks. 13. Mr. Bharuka refers to paragraph 28 of the guidelines issued by the Department of Company Affairs (DCA) which states that where except for the first word, all other words of the proposed name are "similar to those of an existing company", then the first word should be considered to be sufficient to distinguish it from the name of the existing company. In other words, he submits that the prefix "cGMP" was sufficient to dist ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... independent of the jurisdiction that is exercised by the Central Government through respondent No. 1 in dealing with an application under section 22 of the Act. He refers to the judgment of the Division Bench of this Court in Montari Overseas Ltd. v. Montari Industries Ltd. [1996] 7 SCL 102 . Mr. Chandra relied on the judgment in Surya Dev Rai v. Ram Chander Rai [2003] 6 SCC 675, to urge that unless the Court found that respondent No. 1 had acted in violation of the principles of natural justice or committed an error of jurisdiction, it should not interfere under article 226 of the Constitution merely because another view is possible to be taken in the matter. In other words, if the procedure adopted was just and fair, this Court should not ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... pondent No. 1 cannot approach the case as it would in a trademark dispute, it is nevertheless required to come to the conclusion whether the name of which the registration is sought or has been granted too nearly resembles the name of another company. Mr. Chandra is right in his contention that the powers of the Central Government under section 22 of the Act are wider inasmuch as there is no need to examine whether there is a likelihood of deception or confusion. It is enough to examine if the name registered too nearly resembles another registered name. Respondent No. 2 has been able to show that both names too nearly resemble each other. 18. This Court is unable to find anything perverse in the conclusion arrived at by respondent No. 1. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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