Raghbir Singh, Vice-Chairman - (1.) SHRI A.Prabhakara Reddy, the learned counsel for the appellant is present.
(2.) The appeals are against three orders of the Assistant Registrar of Trade Marks dated 12.9.2003 wherein the applications of the appellant were rejected on the ground that the mark cannot be registered for the reason that the trade marks being descriptive are neither adapted to distinguish nor capable of being distinguished. The grievance of the appellant is that the Assistant Registrar did not give any reason to arrive at the conclusion that the marks are not registrable except a cryptic statement in the order which is as follows:- "The trade mark 'PRIME' being descriptive is neither adapted to distinguish nor capable of distinguishing the goods under application and thus is in capable of registration even on evidence of extensive use. Therefore, the application is hereby refused registration under section 9 of the Act". We have perused the Rules with regard to the powers of the Assistant Registrar to pass such orders. In fact, Rule 40 of the rules framed under the Trade Marks Act, 1999 which deals with "Decision of Registrar" empowers the Registrar to communicate his observations in writing to the applicant and if the applicant intends to appeal from such decision, he may within one month from the date of such communication apply on Form TM 15 to the Registrar requiring him to state in writing the grounds of, and the materials used by him in arriving at, his decision.
(3.) ADMITTEDLY, the appellant did not choose to apply on Form TM 15 and approached this Board by way of appeal. The learned counsel for the appellant, on our query in respect of non compliance of the procedure contemplated under the Act, replied that the Assistant Registrar does not comply with the requests of the applicants on Form TM 15 within any reasonable time and if such request is made, the matter is kept pending before the concerned authority for months together and this would cause further delay in the process of registration. Hence, to avoid the delay, the appellant has no other option except to approach the appellate authority.;