JUDGMENT (Oral)

C.O. (COMM.IPD-TM) 285/2021 & I.A. 21222/2022

1. By this application, preferred under Sections 47 and 57 of the Trade Marks Act 1999, the plaintiff "The Hind Samachar Limited" has sought rectification of the registration of the Trade Marks maintained by the Registrar of Trademarks, by cancelling the registration granted by the Registry to Respondent 1 (the only contesting respondent) of the trade mark no. 3353424 dated 2nd September 2016 and to remove the said trade mark from the Registry of Trademarks.

2. This is a dispute amongst family members. During the pendency of the present petition, an oral Family Settlement was arrived at between the family members, which was reduced into writing, vide the Memorandum dated 16th July 2022, which has been placed on record along with IA 21222/2022.

3. Paras 9.1 and 9.2 of the said Family Settlement demarcated the territories in which the Petitioner (VKC group) and Respondent 1 (AKC group) could use the subject mark, and read thus:

"9.1. AKC Group Parties shall retain the exclusive right, title and ownership in trade mark ''PUNJAB KESARI" and/or ''DAILY PUNJAB KESARI" along with exclusive publication and printing rights