Section 30

30. Limits on the effect of the registered trademark.—

(1) Nothing in section 29 shall be construed as preventing the use of a registered trademark by any person for the purposes of identifying goods or services as those of the proprietor provided the use—

(a) is in accordance with honest practices in industrial or commercial matters, and

(b) is not such as to take unfair advantage of or be detrimental to the distinctive character or repute of the trademark.

(2) A registered trademark is not infringed where—

(a) the use in relation to goods or services indicates the kind, quality, quantity, intended purpose, value, geographical origin, the time of production of goods or of rendering of services or other characteristics of goods or services;

(b) a trademark is registered subject to any conditions or limitations, the use of the trademark in any manner in relation to goods to be sold or otherwise traded in, in any place, or in relation to goods to be exported to any market or in relation to services for use or available for acceptance in any place or country outside India or in any other circumstances, to which, having regard to those conditions or limitations, the registration does not extend;

(i) in relation to goods connected in the course of trade with the proprietor or a registered user of the trademark if, as to those goods or a bulk of which they form part, the registered proprietor or the registered user conforming to the permitted use has applied the trademark and has not subsequently removed or obliterated it, or has at any time expressly or impliedly consented to the use of the trademark; or

(ii) in relation to services to which the proprietor of such mark or of a registered user conforming to the permitted use has applied the mark, where the purpose and effect of the use of the mark is to indicate, in accordance with the fact, that those services have been performed by the proprietor or a registered user of the mark;

(d) the use of a trademark by a person in relation to goods adapted to form part of, or to be accessory to, other goods or services in relation to which the trademark has been used without infringement of the right given by registration under this Act or might for the time being be so used if the use of the trademark is reasonably necessary in order to indicate that the goods or services are so adapted, and neither the purpose nor the effect of the use of the trademark is to indicate, otherwise than in accordance with the fact, a connection in the course of trade between any person and the goods or services, as the case may be;

(e) the use of a registered trademark, being one of two or more trademarks registered under this Act which are identical or nearly resemble each other, in the exercise of the right to the use of that trademark given by registration under this Act.

(3) Where the goods bearing a registered trademark are lawfully acquired by a person, the sale of the goods in the market or otherwise dealing in those goods by that person or by a person claiming under or through him is not an infringement of a trademark by reason only of—

(a) the registered trademark having been assigned by the registered proprietor to some other person, after the acquisition of those goods; or

(b) the goods having been put on the market under the registered trademark by the proprietor or with his consent.

(4) Sub-section (3) shall not apply where there exist legitimate reasons for the proprietor to oppose further dealings in the goods in particular, where the condition of the goods, has been changed or impaired after they have been put on the market.