No Infallible Principle That God's Name Is Not Registrable As Trademark, Says Calcutta HC [Read Judgment]

The Calcutta High Court has observed that there is no 'infallible' principle that God's name is not registrable as a trademark.

The division bench of Justice I. P. Mukerji and Justice Md. Nizamuddin was dealing an interlocutory application in a suit filed by Shyam Steel Industries Limited, the registered proprietor of the word mark 'Shyam' and label marks for infringement of trademark and passing off against the defendant Shyam Sel and Power Limited.

The court observed thus while considering the contention raised by the defendant that 'Shyam' is another name of Lord Krishna and thus no exclusive right can be claimed by anybody over this mark. It said:

"In my opinion, there is no authority or at least no authority was shown to us, which laid down that God's name was not registrable as a trademark."

The Court noted that, in Lal Babu Priyadarshi v. Amritpal Singh AIR 2016 SC 461, the Supreme Court only said that the names of "holy and religious books like Quran, Bible, Guru Granth Sahib, Ramayan etc. could not be a trademark. It added:

Therefore, this court cannot say as an infallible principle of law that registration of the word 'Shyam' was invalid and its registration should be cancelled. The respondent has to prove, by leading cogent evidence before the Board, that indeed the name 'Shyam' refers to God only, is not distinctive of the appellant, is generic and common. Hence, its registration was invalid. The respondent has not been able to establish this, even prima facie.

Therefore, it held that the plaintiff is the registered owner of the trademark 'Shyam'.

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