Trademark Law Declared by the Supreme Court of India in Twenty-First Century (2010 – 2023) – II

The Parliament of India amends and makes and unmakes the law. The Supreme Court of India (hereinafter, the Supreme Court), does not merely decide a lis in personam but also declares the law on a question that it decides to answer. The law so declared by the Supreme Court becomes binding in rem by virtue of Article 141 of the Constitution of India (hereinafter, the Constitution). The Supreme Court, by virtue of Article 141 of the Constitution, declares the law and makes and unmakes the law while deciding cases through the process of judicial review and interpretation-construction. In the second and third decades of twenty-first century, the Supreme Court has, on an average, decided 1.86 (point eight six) cases in a year, or one trademark case in 196.07 (point zero seven) days, or one case in .53 (point five three) year. A review of the reported decisions on the Trade Marks Act, 1999 (hereinafter, the Trade Marks Act) reveals that the Supreme Court has: (i) delivered a total of 27 decisions including a few decisions in which the Trade Marks Act finds only a reference; (ii) declared trademark law and iron out the creases of law by interpreting the text of the statutes; (iii) not declared anything on the constitutionality of the trademark statutes as no such question of constitutionality was brought before it; (iv) delivered all the decisions unanimously as no dissenting or concurring judgment is reported; (v) decided maximum number of cases by Division Bench (21 cases) constituting 77.77 (point seven seven) percent, followed by Full Bench (5 cases) constituting 18.51 (point five one) percent, and 1 by Single Bench constituting 3.7 (point seven) percent; and (vi) decided only one trademark case by a Single Bench which is reported from the third decade of this century. A total of 39 judges were on the bench deciding the 27 trademark cases. It has been observed that no sitting Chief Justice of India was on the bench in any of the trademark cases. Paper proceeds with the same argument and method as developed and adopted in the papers covering patent law, copyright law, design law and trademark law in twentieth and twenty-first centuries published under the theme„IP Laws Declared by the Supreme Court). This Paper seeks to cull out the principles of trademark law declared by the Supreme Court in the second and third decades of the twenty-first century.