Can the owner of a well-known trade mark like Mercedes Benz sustain an infringement claim against an ice cream manufacturer that uses it as its corporate or trading name? This doubt was expressed by a single bench of Bombay High Court, which has been answered by the full bench holding that there is no infringement in such a case. The full bench of Bombay High Court in has held that the use of a registered trade mark as corporate name or trading name or style is excluded from the purview of Sections 29(1), 29(2) and 29(4) of the Trade Marks Act, 1999, and these provisions are restricted to the use of a trade mark ‘as a trade mark’, i.e., in the ‘trade marky’ sense. The court also observed that Sections 29(4) and 29(5) operate in separate and mutually exclusive spheres, i.e., if the defendant uses the registered trade mark only as a corporate name or trading name or style in respect of dissimilar goods, a plaint can have no remedy and is not entitled to an injunction. The plaintiff...