K. Vinod Chandran, J.

1. This suo motu public interest litigation (PIL) has been registered on the basis of a petition sent by one R.S.Praveen Raj of Thiruvananthapuram, who has been transposed as 3rd respondent herein. For convenience, he is referred to as “petitioner”.

2. The petitioner claims to be a person having experience in the field of Intellectual Property Rights alleging that the registration of a trademark of the “picture of Attukal deity” and on the appellation “Sabarimala of Women” are against the provisions of the Trade Marks Act, 1999 (hereinafter referred to as “the Act”) as also in violation of Article 25 and 26 of the Constitution of India. The petitioner assails the logic of having registered a trade mark on a religious symbol which, according to him, is an affront on the faith of devotees, more so when on such registration the place of worship is reduced to a “business outfit” engaged in trade and commerce. The petitioner also alleges that appropriation by the Temple Trust of the picture of the goddess would seriously and prejudicially interfere with the rights of an individual devotee and the monopoly thus established would prevent worship of the said deity by any person unless otherwise authorized by the Trust. The petitioner also asserts his right to invoke the jurisdiction of this Court under Article 226 bypassing the remedies available under Sections 47 and 57 of the Act, since it entails procedural wrangles and payment of fees and more so since the petition is moved in public interest.

3. At the Court's instance, Sri.Santhosh Mathew, Advocate was appointed as Amicus Curiae, who has taken pains in explaining the nuances of the law on the subject as also placing the pleadings, the provisions of law and the precedents in the proper perspective along with his opinion by way of Note dated 19.08.2013. The Attukal Bhagavathy Temple Trust - 4th respondent herein, is represented by learned Senior Counsel Sri.P.B.Sureshkumar; the 2nd respondent by the learned Government Pleader and the 1st respondent, the Controller General of Patents, Designs & Trademarks by Sri.Thomas Mathew Nellimoottil .

4. Admittedly the records of the Trademarks Registry indicate two Trademark Applications having been filed, bearing application Nos.1420799 and 1420800, under Class 42 (Device of Deity) for the following services:

a) Temple services,

b) Social service,

c) Welfare service,

d) Cultural activities.

The said applications, as indicated above, are for the registration of the “picture of the Attukal Deity” and on the appellation “Sabarimala of Women”. The contention of the petitioner was that the icon of the Attukal Deity is 'Common' and the same cannot be appropriated or monopolised by the Trust and that the grant of registration presupposes a certain commercial advantage reducing the temple to a source of commerce, thus injuring the faith and beliefs of the devotees. According to Sri.Santhosh Mathew, the Draft Manual for Trademark Practice and Procedure does not place a blanket prohibition on the registration of religious symbols and deities; nor can an interpretation be placed on Section 9(2)(b) that such a registration would contravene the provisions of the Act. In fact the Manual accepts the fact that it is a common trade practice in India to use the names and pictures of Gods and Goddesses or religious symbols as trademark (5.12.2). The Manual also carves out specific exceptions to the trademark registration by 5.12.3. The said extracts from the Manual are given herein below:

“5.12.2 It is to be noted that it is a common trade practice in India to use names and pictures of Gods and Goddesses or religious symbols as trade mark. Accordingly, such use per se is not regarded by public as offending religious sentiments of any class or section or public. However, such use in relation to certain goods may offend the religious sentiments of the people. For example, use of names/device of deities or religious heads on f