TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (12) TMI 520
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....with the Service Tax Department dealing in Consumer Durables, Health care Products, etc., and is also engaged in trading, distributing, warehousing, and clearing and forwarding these products. The appellant had developed a logo 'TTK' which was registered as an 'Artistic Work' under the Copyright Act, 1957 and was permitted to be used by the group concerns on the packaging, cartons, containers, labels, brochures, literature and advertising materials in connection with products which it manufactures, sells or distributes. 3. The Department was of the opinion that the Appellant is required to pay service tax on the royalty income that it has received for permitting their group companies to use the logo 'TTK' as trademark under Intellectual Property Right service. 4. The Statements of Demand indicate that the appellants were earlier issued with SCN/SODs for period from July 2007 to March 2013, and the proceedings therein culminated in the adjudication order vide Order-in-Original No. 02-08/2014-15 dated 27.02.2015. As stated supra, the appellant has preferred this appeal being aggrieved by the impugned Orders-in-Original Nos. R19&R20/2016-2017 dated 28.12.2016. 5.1 Ms. G. Vard....
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....a cinema hall or cinema theatre;" Thus, the benefit of the said entry would be available to the appellant. That apart, we find the issue is no more res integra and as rightly submitted by the appellant stands covered in their favor vide Final Order Nos. 40366-40372/2015 dated 19.03.2025. The relevant portion is reproduced as under: - "8. The Ld. Counsel for the Appellant has stressed that the logo is not a trademark but a copyrighted artistic work and that the appellant is not liable to pay service tax under IPR services on the royalty income. Against this, the Department contends that the appellant was using the logo as a trademark recognized under the Trademark Act and that the appellants merely having registered the same under the Copyright Act would not make the logo not recognized as a trademark. It is also submitted by him that the logo does not have any artistic value and hence demand of service tax is sustainable. 9. We find that the logo `ttk' were only used to project the image of the manufacturer generally and did not establish any relationship between the mark and the products manufactured/ distributed by the group companies of the Appellant. It onl....
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....ice." The term Trade Mark has been defined under clause (2b) of Section 2 of Trade Mark Act, 1999 "Section 2(b) trade mark means a mark capable of being represented graphically and which is capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one person from those of others and may include shape of goods, their packaging and combination of colours; and (i) in relation to Chapter XII (other than Section 107), a registered trade mark or a mark used in relation to goods or services for the purpose of indicating or so as to indicate a connection in the course of trade between the goods or services, as the case may be, and some person having the right as proprietor to use the mark; and (ii) in relation to other provisions of this Act, a mark used or proposed to be used in relation to goods or services for the purpose of indicating or so to indicate a connection in the course of trade between the goods or services, as the case may be, and some person having the right, either as proprietor or by way of permitted user, to use the mark whether with or without any indication of the identity of that person, and includes a certification trade mark or collectiv....
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....ph of any image forming part thereof; (ii) to sell or give on hire or offer for sale or hire, any copy of the film. regardless of whether such copy has been sold or given on hire on earlier occasions; (iii) to communicate the film to the public; (e) in the case of a sound recording,- (i) to make any other sound recording embodying it; (ii) to sell or give on hire, or offer for sale or hire, any copy of the sound recording, regardless of whether such copy has been sold or given on hire on earlier occasions; (iii) to communicate the sound recording to the public. Explanation-For the purposes of this section, a copy which has been sold once shall be deemed to be a copy already in circulation." Section 2(c) "Artistic work" means- (i) a painting, a sculpture, a drawing (including a diagram, map, chart or plan), and engraving or a photograph, whether or not any such work possesses artistic quality; (ii) work of architecture; and (iii) any other work of artistic craftsmanship" 5.2 As seen above, the definition of IPR service excludes copyright. Undisputedly, the appellants have registered th....
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....e is issued by a Competent Authority to issue the same. 5.4 In the case of ESPN Software India Pvt. Ltd. (supra), the Tribunal had occasion to analyse the dispute relating to cartoon characters. The assesse therein contended that these cartoon characters are artistic work and covered under copyright. Whereas, the Revenue alleged the same to be Trademark and raised the demand under IPR services. The main contention made by the Revenue in the said case was that in the sublicensing agreement as well as in the product licensing agreement, promotional licensing agreement and other agreements, the property shown in the schedule "powerful girls" had been referred as trademark. After analysing the definition of copyright and trademark, the Tribunal held that such cartoon characters fall under copyright only. The facts being similar in our view, the said decision is applicable to this case. Further, in the present case, the logo is registered under the Copyright Act. Relevant portion of the decision in the case of ESPN Software India Pvt. Ltd. is reproduced as under: - "38. Product Licensing Agreement and Promotional Licensing Agreements were executed between TENA and TIPL....
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....o that of a trademark. In para-6 of the judgment, the Hon'ble Apex Court observed as under:- "6. As has been explained earlier the first part of the Explanation widens the ambit of the entry by extending it to any drug or medicinal preparation for use in internal or external administration for prevention of ailments in human beings or animals. But then it narrows it by restricting the applicability of the tariff item to only such medicines which bear either on itself or on its container or both a name which is not specified in a monograph in a Pharmacopoeia. This obviously is not applicable to the appellant as the injections manufactured by the appellant are specified in a Pharmacopoeia. The other class of medicines to which this Explanation applies are those which have a brand name that is a name or a registered trademark under a Trade & Merchandise Marks Act. The medicine manufactured by the appellants is not registered under the Trade and Merchandise Marks Act. Therefore, it would attract levy only if its container or packing carried any distinctive marks so as to establish the relation between the medicine and the manufacturer. But the identification of a medicine ....