Textile Trade Marks and the Repealed Chapter X

In one line

Chapter X of the Act gave textile goods a special regime of line headings, stamping and sampling, and the whole chapter was repealed on 8 July 2013, so today a textile mark is simply an ordinary trade mark.

Say the repeal first

Sections 79, 80, 81 and 82, the whole of Chapter X, headed "Special Provisions for Textile Goods", were OMITTED by section 7 of the Trade Marks (Amendment) Act 2010, with effect from 8 July 2013.

Section 7 of the amending Act is one line: "Omission of Chapter X. Chapter X of the principal Act shall be omitted."

The rule-making heads went with them. Section 157(2) once carried clauses (xxvi) the classes of goods under section 79, (xxvii) the conditions and restrictions under section 80(1), and (xxviii) determination of character of textile goods by sampling under section 82. India Code now prints them as asterisks.

The syllabus still names the topic, so the examiner may still ask it. Answer it in the order used here: what the chapter did, why it went, and what governs a textile mark now.

What the chapter said

Section 79, Textile goods. The Central Government could prescribe classes of goods, called textile goods in that chapter, to whose trade marks Chapter X would apply. Subject to those provisions, the rest of the Act applied to them as it applied to other goods.

So Chapter X did not switch itself on. It waited for a notification naming the classes.

Section 80, Restriction on registration of textile goods. In respect of textile goods being piece goods:

• (a) no mark consisting of a line heading alone was registrable as a trade mark;
• (b) a line heading was not deemed to be capable of distinguishing;
• (c) registration of a trade mark gave no exclusive right to the use of a line heading.

And section 80(2): in respect of any textile goods, the registration of letters or numerals, or any combination of them, was subject to such conditions and restrictions as might be prescribed.

Section 81, Stamping of piece goods, cotton yarn and thread. Piece goods ordinarily sold by length or by the piece, manufactured, bleached, dyed, printed or finished in a factory as defined in the Factories Act 1948, could not be removed for sale without being conspicuously stamped in international form of Indian numerals on each piece with its length in standard yards or standard metres, and, except on sale from the factory for export, without being conspicuously marked with the name of the manufacturer, the occupier of the premises where it was finally processed, or the wholesale purchaser in India.

Section 81(2) did the same for cotton yarn sold in bundles and for cotton sewing, darning, crochet or handicraft thread. The bundle had to carry the weight of yarn and the count, each unit of thread its length or weight, and, except for export, the name of the manufacturer or wholesale purchaser.