House marks revisited in Indian Parle dispute

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Lex OrbisManisha Singh [email protected] large and well established business houses adopt family names as trade marks, and some of these attain…

Lex Orbis
Manisha Singh Nair
[email protected]

Many large and well established business houses adopt family names as trade marks, and some of these attain great brand value and reputation. These marks are generically known as house marks and they often become the bone of contention in disputes where businesses have split among family members and the question arises of who has the right to use the mark.

Indian courts have considered the issue of house marks during various trade mark disputes that have come before it. For example, during the European case of Canon Kabushiki Kaisha vs. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., (1999) RPC 117, consideration was given as to what constituted 'confusion'. This can be summarised as:

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