SSI exemption and brand name registration: post-registration clearances were treated as outside the brand-name bar to exemption.

SSI exemption turns on whether the brand name belonged to the appellant during the relevant clearances. The article notes that an earlier CESTAT ruling treated trade mark registration in the appellant's name as effective from the application date, not from the earlier assignment agreement, and held that clearances after that effective date were not barred by the brand-name restriction in the exemption notifications. As the periods in dispute were subsequent to that recognised date, the prior adverse view on exemption could not stand. The demand based on denial of small scale industry benefit was therefore unsustainable.

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Issues: Whether the appellant was entitled to claim small scale industry exemption for clearances effected during the relevant periods on the basis of the brand name registration and assignment in its favour.

Analysis: The dispute turned on whether the brand name could be treated as belonging to the appellant for the period in question. The earlier Tribunal decision on the same brand name had held that registration of the trade mark in the appellant's name was effective from the date of application and not from the earlier date of the agreement, and that clearances made after such registration would not be hit by the brand-name bar under the exemption notifications. Since the present periods were subsequent to the effective date recognised in that decision, the earlier adverse finding on exemption could not survive.

Conclusion: The appellant was entitled to the exemption for the relevant periods, and the demand based on denial of SSI benefit was unsustainable.

Final Conclusion: The impugned order was set aside and the appeal succeeded on the question of exemption eligibility.

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