House mark on medicine label did not amount to a brand name, preserving favourable tariff classification.

The use of "Glaxo" on the label of Ranitidine Injection was treated as a house mark required under the Drugs Rules, not as a brand name connecting the medicine to a particular trader for tariff purposes. As the Revenue did not show any material difference from the earlier Astra Pharmaceuticals ruling, and that reasoning had already been followed in the assessee's own case for the same product, the label did not disqualify the goods from classification as other than patent and proprietary medicaments. The classification in favour of the assessee was therefore sustained.

---

---

Issues: Whether the use of the word "Glaxo" on the label of Ranitidine Injection constituted use of a brand name so as to deny classification as other than a patent and proprietary medicament under the tariff entry claimed by the assessee.

Analysis: The appellate authority had found that "Glaxo" functioned only as a house mark required under the Drugs Rules and not as a mark establishing a connection between the name and the medicine. The Revenue did not show any material distinction from the earlier decision in Astra Pharmaceuticals, which had been followed in the assessee's own case concerning the same product. The reasoning accepted that the label mark did not convert the product into one bearing a brand name for tariff purposes.

Conclusion: The classification in favour of the assessee was sustained and the Revenue's challenge failed.

---