JUDGMENT

P. Sathasivam, J. —

1)The petitioners in Transfer Petition (Civil) Nos. 1233- 1237 of 2008 and 243-244 of 2009 are schools run by the Tamil Nadu Arya Samaj Education Society (in short “the Society”) which is registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860. According to the petitioners, the Society was registered on 02.01.1975 and has been running and managing schools for the last more than 30 years. The schools are being run under a specific system of education propounded by “Swami Dayanand Saraswati” known as “Dayanand Anglo Vedic” system (in short “DAV”). The petitioners have been using the expression “DAV” with its schools for the last more than 30 years. The respondent-Committee is running about 700 educational institutions. On 16.01.2005, the respondent- Committee has obtained a trademark registration in respect of the letters “DAV” and “Dayanand Anglo Vedic” under Class 41 which is a service mark. On 04.08.2008, the respondent-Committee issued a notice to the petitioners of “cease and desist”, namely, the petitioners should not use the words “DAV” for its schools. On 25.08.2008, the petitioners through their advocate replied to the said notice informing that the