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2008 DIGILAW 484 (DEL)

CARBORUNDUM UNIVERSEL LIMITED v. PARTH TRADING COMPANY

2008-05-09

S.N.DHINGRA

body2008
JUDGMENT : Shiv Narayan Dhingra, J. 1. The Plaintiff company having its corporate name as Carborundum Universal e Limited has filed this suit against the Defendant seeking restraint against the Defendant from using word 'Carborundum' on its goods and has also claimed damages to the tune of Rs. 20 lacs and sought delivery upon affidavit from the Defendant of the offending goods. Along with the suit, an application under Order 39 Rule 1 and 2 CPC was filed by the Plaintiff. Plaintiff claimed that it was engaged in the business of manufacturing and marketing of coated and bonded abrasive products, refractories and ceramics. The Plaintiff had been marketing its goods including grinding wheel carrying the corporate name of the Plaintiff. The Defendant No. 1 was selling the products of the Plaintiff as a dealer. Defendant No. 1 started marketing its own grinding wheel under the name 'Pace' with word Carborundum appearing under the word 'Pace'. It is pleaded that the use of word Carborundum by the Defendant was to pass off the goods of the Defendant as those of Plaintiff. The Defendant intentionally and deliberately adopted and used the word Carborundum without any justification. The Plaintiff claimed that the word Carborundum being identical with the corporate name of the Plaintiff gave impression that the goods were product of the Plaintiff and thus Defendant was passing off its goods as those of the Plaintiff. The Defendant was also deceiving the public and Defendant had no right to use distinctive name 'Carborundum'. 2. The Defendant in its reply has contented that the Plaintiff has falsely and wrongfully claimed proprietary of word 'Carborundum'. The word 'Carborundum' was never used by the Plaintiff as a trade mark and was only part of its corporate name. The word 'Carborundum' denotes a Silicon compound viz. Silicon Carbide and was not even capable of being registered as a trade mark. The Defendant No. 1 was marketing its products under the name 'Pace' and word 'Carborundum' was being used to describe the compound of the grinding wheel and it has nothing to do with the corporate name of the Plaintiff. The use of word 'Carborundum' by the Defendant gave ho cause of action to the Plaintiff and the suit was a frivolous suit just to harm the Defendant. 3. The use of word 'Carborundum' by the Defendant gave ho cause of action to the Plaintiff and the suit was a frivolous suit just to harm the Defendant. 3. It is undisputed fact that 'Carborundum' is a generic word and is another name of Silicon Carbide which is generally used in manufacturing of industrial abrasive products. The Plaintiff adopted its corporate name as Carborundum Universal Limited. There is no restriction on the companies in choosing corporate name using generic words. There are several companies who have corporate name like Steel Authority of India Ltd., Iron Foundries Pvt. Ltd., Copper Corporation etc. where the generic names or the name of an alloy or a compound is part of the corporate name. That does not give right to the company having a corporate name using generic word to stop others from using the same word on their products. A person has a right to describe Steel as Steel irrespective of the fact that there is a company called Steel Authority of India Ltd. It is for this reason that the law has specifically prohibited registration of names of chemical elements or international non-proprietary names as trade marks u/s 13 of the Trade Marks Act. Section 13 of the Trade Marks Act reads as under: Prohibition of registration of names of chemical elements or international non-proprietary names. No word: (a) which is the commonly used and accepted name of any single chemical f element or any single chemical element or any single chemical compound (as distinguished from a mixture) in respect of a chemical substance or preparation. (b) which is declared by the World Health Organization and notified in the prescribed manner by the Registrar from time to time, as an international non-proprietary name or which is deceptively similar to such name, shall be registered as a trade mark and any such registration shall be deemed for the purpose of Section 57 to be an entry made in the register without sufficient cause or an entry wrongly remaining or the register, as the circumstances may require. 4. A perusal of sub Clause (a) would show that names of any chemical elements like Steel, Copper, Gold, Silver, Oxygen, Nitrogen or names of chemical compounds like Alcohol, Chloroform, Benzene etc. cannot be registered as trade a mark in respect of chemical element or compound. 4. A perusal of sub Clause (a) would show that names of any chemical elements like Steel, Copper, Gold, Silver, Oxygen, Nitrogen or names of chemical compounds like Alcohol, Chloroform, Benzene etc. cannot be registered as trade a mark in respect of chemical element or compound. In these cases, the name is generic and is truly descriptive of the content of the goods. If a person makes utensils of Steel, he can write on the utensils 'Steel'. On copper bowl, he ean write copper. On grinding wheel if the compound used is 'Carborundum', manufacturer has a right to use 'Carborundum' to describe the compound used in the product. These words are not registrable as trade mark even though these words can be used as a part of corporate names. The Plaintiff who is using the word 'Carborundum' as corporate name has no monopoly over this word 'Carborundum' and cannot ask for any injunction, temporary or permanent against any other person using the word 'Carborundum' showing the compound used in the product. 5. It is settled law that what cannot be done directly cannot be allowed to be done indirectly. Since registration of generic word as trade mark is prohibited u/s 13 of the Trade Marks Act, by using generic word 'Carborundum' as a part of corporate name Plaintiff cannot claim it as its trade mark. I find no force in the application and the application is dismissed. 6. The suit of the Plaintiff is also liable to be dismissed being not maintainable as contrary to the provisions of Section 13 of Trade Marks Act. 7. The suit is also dismissed.