SSI exemption and brand-name bar: properly assigned or own-right trade mark use did not defeat the benefit.

Small scale industry exemption was available where the goods were cleared under a brand name used in the assessee's own right. A registered mark used by one respondent in its own right, and another mark used pursuant to an assignment deed, did not amount to use of another person's brand name for the exemption bar. Proper assignment of a trade mark was treated as taking the case outside the disqualification. The respondents were therefore entitled to the SSI exemption.

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Issues: Whether the respondents were entitled to small scale industry exemption when the goods were cleared under the brand names used by them, and whether such use attracted the bar against goods cleared under the brand name of another person.

Analysis: The exemption notifications denied benefit only where specified goods were cleared under the brand name of another person. On the facts, one respondent used a registered brand name in its own right, while the other used the brand name pursuant to an assignment deed. The use was therefore not of another person's brand name. The cited authority on assigned trade marks supported the view that a properly assigned mark does not attract the disqualification merely because it originated with another person.

Conclusion: The respondents were not hit by the brand-name bar and were entitled to the SSI exemption.

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