SSI excise exemption for own brand name upheld; demand notice failed once legal ownership of the mark was established.

The HC held that goods bearing the petitioner's own brand name were eligible for SSI excise exemption because the petitioner was the legal owner of the brand name within its marketing area. The decisive point was that the brand name was not that of another person, so the statutory basis for denying exemption did not apply. On that footing, the show cause notice demanding duty for alleged clearance without payment of duty could not be sustained and the demand proceedings were set aside.

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Issues: Whether the petitioner was entitled to exemption from excise duty in respect of goods cleared under its own brand name, and whether the show cause notice demanding duty could be sustained.

Analysis: The dispute turned on whether the brand name used by the petitioner was the brand name of another person or its own brand name. The Court noted that the issue had already been finally decided in the assessee's own case and that the petitioner was held to be the legal owner of the brand name within its marketing area. In that view, the petitioner was treated as using its own brand name and, therefore, as eligible for the SSI exemption under the relevant notification. Once that legal position was settled, the demand notice founded on alleged removal without duty could not survive.

Conclusion: The petitioner was entitled to the exemption and the show cause notice was unsustainable; the writ petition was allowed in favour of the petitioner.

Final Conclusion: The demand proceedings were set aside because the goods were treated as bearing the petitioner's own brand name, bringing the case within the exemption scheme.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the manufacturer is the legal owner of the brand name used on the goods, the goods are treated as bearing its own brand name and the denial of SSI exemption on the footing of use of another person's brand name cannot be sustained.

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