SSI exemption and brand name use turn on ownership and user of the mark, requiring fresh factual reconsideration.

SSI exemption under Notification No. 175/86-CE is unavailable where specified goods bear another person's brand name or trade name, and a brand name includes any mark indicating a trade connection with that person. The critical question is whether the mark is used as another person's brand or as the assessee's own brand; if the assessee can show the mark is its own, exemption is not automatically denied even if another person also claims it. The factual issues on ownership and user of the mark required reconsideration by the adjudicating authority.

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Issues: Whether the benefit of exemption under Notification No. 175/86-CE was unavailable to an SSI unit using a brand name or trade name allegedly belonging to another person, and whether the matter required fresh adjudication on the factual question of ownership and user of the mark.

Analysis: The exemption under the notification is denied where the specified goods bear the brand name or trade name of another person who is not entitled to the exemption. The expression "brand name" includes any name or mark used to indicate a connection in the course of trade between the goods and some other person, and the goods need not be the same as those of that other person. The decisive question is whether the mark is used as the brand of another person or as the assessee's own brand. If the brand belongs to the assessee itself, even if another person may also claim it, the exemption is not automatically lost. The authorities below did not examine the factual aspects in the correct perspective.

Conclusion: The goods of a different line did not save the assessee if the mark used was another person's brand name, but the factual issue of ownership and user had to be reconsidered by the adjudicating authority.

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