RAKESH KUMAR Vs. UNION OF INDIA AND ORS.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner has filed the present petition, inter alia, seeking a direction to the respondent to serve the certificate of registration of trade mark "GOLDLINE". The grievance of the petitioner is that it had not received the registration certificate for the aforementioned trade mark and has thus been prevented from seeking renewal thereof. Briefly stated the relevant facts are that the petitioner filed an application, bearing No. 700401, for registration of the trade mark "GOLDLINE" on 01.03.1996 in class 11 in respect of the specified goods "lighting, heating, cooling and steam generating appliances including bulbs". The said application was advertised in the trade marks journal No. mega 1 at page 58 on 25.08.2003. It is stated that thereafter, the petitioner received no information with respect to the said registration. On 24.06.2009, the petitioner sent a letter to respondent No. 2 stating that he had not received the registration certificate even though the website of respondent No. 2 mentioned the status of the trade mark application No. 700401 as "Registered" and requested respondent No. 2 to provide a copy of the same. The petitioner sent further letters to respondent No. 2, on 14.06.2010 and 25.07.2011, requesting for a copy of registration certificate.

(2.) THE petitioner filed an application under the Right to Information Act, 2005 on 01.03.2013 and in response to the said application, the petitioner became aware that the certificate of registration No. 359077 dated 26.04.2005 was dispatched from the office of the Registrar, Trade Marks (bearing dispatch No. 38058). On 17.06.2013, the petitioner again checked the status of the trade mark application No. 700401 on the website of the respondent No. 2 and the same was shown as "Removed" with the History/PR details stated as follows:

(3.) IT is the petitioner's case that it had never received the certificate of registration. The respondent contended that the petitioner had the knowledge of the trade mark in 2009 and yet did not take any expeditious step for renewal of the trade mark.