Brand name exemption turns on trade connection; a disowned design on goods did not bar small scale relief.

Exemption under Notification No. 175/86-CE is denied only when the goods bear another person's brand name or trade name that ly indicates a trade connection with that person. The Court found that the hexagonal design printed on the corrugated boxes was not shown to belong to the marketing company: it disowned any proprietary right, there was no agreement or commercial document treating it as its mark, and the appellant's own brand names were separately displayed. The design was therefore treated as a mere artistic feature, not an identifying mark of another person, and the small scale exemption remained available.

---

---

Issues: Whether the appellant was disentitled to exemption under Notification No. 175/86-CE on the ground that the hexagonal design printed on the corrugated boxes was the brand name or trade name of another person.

Analysis: The exemption was available only where the manufacturer affixed the specified goods with the brand name or trade name of another person who was not eligible for the exemption. The decisive question was whether the hexagonal design belonged to the marketing company and operated as an indicium of connection in the course of trade. The record showed that the marketing company disowned any brand name, symbol, proprietary right, or ownership in the design. There was no agreement, permission, or commercial document establishing that the design was its mark. Printing of the design on visiting cards or drawings, by itself, did not create ownership or nexus. The appellant's own brand names were separately printed, and the design was treated as a mere artistic feature rather than a mark identifying another person.

Conclusion: The hexagonal design was not the brand name or trade name of the marketing company, and its use did not bar the appellant from the small scale exemption.

Final Conclusion: The exemption notification remained applicable, the duty demand could not be sustained on the brand-name objection, and the appellant succeeded.

Ratio Decidendi: Exemption under the small scale notification is denied only when the goods bear a brand name or trade name of another person that actually indicates a trade connection with that person; a design or mark disowned by that person and lacking proprietary or identifying nexus does not attract the exclusion.

---