Brand name exemption exclusion applied where goods carried another party's protected trade mark and trade connection.

Exemption under Notification No. 175/86-C.E. was unavailable where goods were affixed with another person's brand name or trade name and that person was not eligible for the exemption. Para 7 excludes specified goods in such cases, and the mark was found to belong to the foreign company whose goodwill was being promoted through the goods, showing a trade connection rather than a neutral label. The exclusion therefore applied, and the benefit of exemption was rightly denied.

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Issues: Whether the benefit of exemption under Notification No. 175/86-C.E. was unavailable where the goods were affixed with the brand name or trade name of another person who was not eligible for the exemption.

Analysis: Para 7 of the notification excludes specified goods from exemption when a manufacturer affixes them with the brand name or trade name of another ineligible person. The agreement and surrounding facts showed that the foreign company owned the mark, its goodwill was being promoted in India through the appellants' goods, and the mark indicated a connection in the course of trade between the goods and that company. The use was therefore not a neutral or unrelated label, but a protected trade mark/trade name attracting the exclusion in the notification.

Conclusion: The appellants were not entitled to the exemption, and denial of the benefit was in law.

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