Whether a portion of consideration paid under a global...

Whether a portion of consideration paid under a global partnership agreement for on-ground advertising and the right to use event-related marks constituted "royalty" under s.195 read with the Indo-Singapore DTAA was determined by construing the agreement as creating a substantive licence to use the relevant trademark worldwide across "advertising material" in any medium. The payer's own admissions and contemporaneous correspondence showed trademark use could not be treated as merely incidental to advertising. Since the apportionment of the composite consideration into advertising (2/3) and trademark licence (1/3) was not substantially disputed, treating 1/3 as royalty and requiring withholding tax at 15% on that portion was upheld. - HC