Brand name bar under SSI exemption applies where a modified mark still indicates trade connection with another person.

Clearances under the mark "AIDEES NEWALL" fell within the brand-name bar in para 4 of Notification No. 1/93-C.E. because the expression retained the essential brand element "NEWALL", which belonged to the respondents' collaborators. Explanation IX treats as a brand name any mark used to indicate a trade connection with another person; the added prefix did not remove that connection. The branded goods were therefore ineligible for Small Scale Exemption, and the duty demand and penalty were sustained.

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Issues: Whether the goods cleared under the brand name "AIDEES NEWALL" were cleared under the brand name of another person so as to attract the bar in para 4 of Notification No. 1/93-C.E. dated 28-2-93 and deny Small Scale Exemption.

Analysis: The brand name "NEWALL" admittedly belonged to the respondents' collaborators, and the respondents added their own word to it. Under Explanation IX to Notification No. 1/93-C.E. dated 28-2-93, a brand name includes any name or mark used so as to indicate a connection in the course of trade with another person. The altered expression "AIDEES NEWALL" still retained the pre-existing brand element "NEWALL" and therefore continued to indicate a trade connection with the owner of that brand name. On that basis, the branded clearances fell within the embargo created by para 4 of the notification.

Conclusion: The assessee was not entitled to Small Scale Exemption on the disputed clearances, and the duty demand and penalty were sustainable.

Final Conclusion: The departmental appeal succeeded because the branded goods were held to have been cleared under another person's brand name, disqualifying the clearances from SSI benefit.

Ratio Decidendi: A modified mark that retains the essential brand element of another person and still indicates a connection in the course of trade falls within the mischief of the SSI notification's brand-name bar.

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