JUDGMENT :

C. HARI SHANKAR, J.

The lis

1. This is a petition under Section 57 of the Trade Marks Act, 1999. The petitioner seeks rectification of the register of trade marks by removal, therefrom, of the trademark “BPI SPORTS” registered as a word mark in favour of Respondent 1 in Class 5 of the NICE classification, for “health food supplements, dietary supplements and nutritional supplements”.

2. The case set up by the petitioner is, fundamentally, that Respondent 1 has fraudulently obtained registration of the impugned mark BPI SPORTS, which belongs to the petitioner and stands registered in its favour, albeit in the US. The petitioner alleges that Respondent 1 is resorting to trade mark squatting, as it has no intention of using the mark BPI SPORTS and has merely got the mark registered in its favour, so as to avoid the mark being registered in favour of the petitioner.

Facts

3. The petitioner is a company incorporated in Florida, USA. It claims to be a leading player in the dietary and nutritional supplements sector. The word mark “BPI SPORTS” and the device mark stand registered in favour of the petitioner on 15th July 2014 and 28th November 2017 respectively in the US, in Class 5 i