Asian Paints Trademark Suit: Bombay High Court Orders Forcible Possession Of Entire Paint Factory In Ghaziabad

The Bombay High Court has directed its Court Receiver to take forcible physical possession of an entire paint manufacturing premises in Ghaziabad. The direction came after an Additional Special Receiver was allegedly obstructed while executing an earlier injunction order.Justice Madhav J. Jamdar passed the direction on August 31 in a commercial intellectual property dispute involving Asian Paints Limited and Deepak Kumar Panwar, who operates Akshay Paints Industries in Ghaziabad.The court...

GST Notice To Deceased Invalid, Legal Heirs Must Be Separately Notified: Calcutta High Court

The Calcutta High Court on 27 August held that GST authorities cannot issue a show cause notice or determine tax liability against a deceased person, and must instead issue the notice to the deceased's legal representatives in their own names. Justice Smita Das De made the observation while quashing a show cause notice issued under Section 74 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (CGST Act) against Late Haradhan Pan, who died on 20 May 2021, along with the consequential...

Madras High Court Refuses To Lift Injunction Against Chennai Trader Over Use Of GLOBE Mark For Padlocks

The Madras High Court has refused to vacate an injunction restraining Chennai trader Vikas Mandoth from using a “GLOBE” mark on padlocks and other hardware goods. The court prima facie concluded that Shanghai Huanqiu Lock Making Company Ltd. was the prior user of the mark and had established reputation and goodwill in the market, while Mandoth's mark/device was phonetically and visually similar.Justice K. Kumaresh Babu also noted that Mandoth's trademark application, filed in 2023, stated that...

Telangana High Court Sets Aside 20% Pre-Deposit Condition For Tax Demand Stay In VSAIPPL-SMC Case

The Telangana High Court on 20 August set aside orders directing VSAIPPL-SMC (JV) to pay 20% of its outstanding tax demand as a condition for staying recovery of the remaining demand, while allowing three writ petitions concerning Assessment Years 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25. A Division Bench comprising Justices P. Sam Koshy and Vakiti Ramakrishna Reddy noted that authorities cannot mechanically impose a condition requiring payment of 20% of an outstanding tax demand for granting stay of...

Section 123 Customs Act Needs Traceable Proof Of Lawfully Acquiring Seized Goods: Allahabad High Court

The Allahabad High Court on 3 September held that an owner of seized goods does not discharge the burden under Section 123 of the Customs Act, 1962 merely by producing documents relating to his business generally, and must instead produce documents that specifically and traceably establish lawful acquisition of the seized goods. A Division Bench comprising Justices Shekhar B. Saraf and Abdhesh Kumar Chaudhary held that the burden shifted to the owner after the revenue satisfied the conditions...

Rajasthan High Court Upholds TDS Disallowance Against Hindustan Zinc On UK Know-How Payment

The Rajasthan High Court on 5 September dismissed Hindustan Zinc Limited's appeal against an Income Tax Appellate Tribunal order sustaining the disallowance of a tax deduction claimed by the company for payment made towards technical know-how to a UK-based company. A Division Bench comprising Justices Pushpendra Singh Bhati and Praveer Bhatnagar upheld the disallowance for Assessment Year 1994-95, holding that the payment made to Davy McKee (Stockton) Limited (DML) was subject to tax deduction...

Bombay High Court Restrains Sale Of Counterfeit 'CLEAR' Packaged Drinking Water

The Bombay High Court has restrained a Karnataka-based business from using the “CLEAR/CLEAR AQUA IND” mark after finding the impugned products to be counterfeit. The court had earlier observed that “AQUA IND” was shown in negligible font while prominence was given to “CLEAR”, and that the rival products had identical bottle shapes, label marks, colour schemes and placement of features.Justice Madhav J. Jamdar allowed Energy Beverages Pvt. Ltd.'s interim application in terms of prayers (a) to (e)...

Meghalaya High Court Sets Aside Service Tax Demand Over 8.5-Year Adjudication Delay

The Meghalaya High Court has recently set aside a service tax demand against the Assam Rifles Group Insurance Scheme (ARGIS). It held that the Revenue authorities could not justify taking nearly 8.5 years to adjudicate the show-cause notice.The Division Bench of Justice H.S. Thangkhiew and Justice B. Bhattacharjee observed that the delay was “undue and unexplained”. It held that the order passed after such a delay violated Section 73(4B)(b) of the Finance Act, 1994, and was “arbitrary and bad in...

Telangana High Court Quashes ₹52.39 Crore VAT Demand On TCS's Customised Software Services

The Telangana High Court has set aside a ₹52.39 crore Value Added Tax (VAT) demand imposed on Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).It held that transactions involving the development of custom-made or customised software did not constitute a sale where TCS did not acquire ownership or title over the software. The Court found that there was no transfer of property in goods.A Division Bench comprising Justice P. Sam Koshy and Justice Narsing Rao Nandikonda passed the common order. It allowed the lead...

Nehle Pe Dehla Rights Row: Bombay High Court Awards ₹1.92 Crore To Ultra Distributors

The Bombay High Court has declared Ultra Distributors Pvt. Ltd. the sole and exclusive holder of the video, cable television and video-on-demand rights to the 1976 Bollywood film Nehle Pe Dehla, starring Sunil Dutt, Vinod Khanna and Saira Banu. Justice Arif S. Doctor held that the March 31, 2005 agreement under which Dhariwal Films assigned these rights to Ultra was valid and binding.The court also held that Dhariwal Films failed to provide Ultra with Digibeta Master tapes of commercially...

Customs Must Establish Foreign Origin Before Presuming Goods Were Smuggled: Allahabad High Court

The Allahabad High Court at Lucknow has recently held that the burden of proof under Section 123 of the Customs Act, 1962, does not shift to the person from whom goods are seized unless the customs authorities first establish that the goods are of foreign origin and were smuggled into India. it held that where nothing on the record connects the goods to smuggling, the presumption cannot be pressed into service at all. The Court applied the rule to silver bullion and to Indian...

Sale Of Counterfeit Apple Accessories Cannot Be Prosecuted As Copyright Offence: Gujarat High Court Quashes FIR

The Gujarat High Court on Monday quashed a copyright infringement FIR against a shopkeeper accused of selling counterfeit Apple accessories, ruling that the allegations essentially concerned trademark misuse rather than copyright infringement.Justice P.M. Raval observed that the FIR and seizure memo did not identify any specific literary or artistic work allegedly copied from Apple. “The dispute essentially pertains to the alleged falsification of a registered trademark on commercial...