This is an appeal against the order of the Assistant Registrar of Trade Marks, Madras, dismissing the appellant’s application under section 56 of the Trade and Merchandise Marks Act, 1958, for rectification of the registered trade mark No. 215062 of which the first respondent is the proprietor.

2. The main objections of the appellant were: (1) the impugned trade mark of the first respondent so nearly resembled the previously registered trade mark of the appellant, that its use was likely to deceive or cause confusion in the public mind, and consequently the registration of the first respondent’s trade mark was a violation of section 11 (a) of the Trade and Merchandise Marks Act,1958, and (2) the appellant having already registered his trade mark in respect of safety matches, the first respondent’s trade mark, which is identical with or deceptively similar to the appellant’s trade mark, should not have been registered in respect of the same goods or description of goods in violation of section 12 (1) of the Act.

3. In order to understand the soundness of these objections, it is necessary to refer to the antecedents of the appellant and the first respondent. Iyya Nadar, the a