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Justice C Harishankar of the Delhi High Court has ordered grant of trademark registration to Agatha’s Christie’s famous crime fiction genre book, 'And Then There Were None.’ The book was originally authored in 1939.

Factual Matrix

The Court was hearing an appeal filed by Agatha Christie Ltd, a company incorporated in 1955, against the decision of Registrar of Trademarks. The Registrar had rejected the application for registration of ‘And then there were none’ stating that the mark lacks distinctiveness and has never really been used as a trademark.

Order

The Court sent the matter to the officer of Registrar of Trade Marks directing that if the application does not suffer from any fatal infirmity, it should be registered under Classes 9, 16 and 41 of the Trademarks Act.

The Court noted that names and words are ‘marks’ under trademark law. The only other criterion is, that it should be capable of graphical representation and capable of distinguishing goods of one person from that of others.

Justice Shankar said that there is no finding or observation by the author of the Trademark Registrar's order that the name “And then there were none” is not capable of being represented graphically or incapable of distinguishing the services being provided by the Appellant company from those provided by others.

The Court further noted that the name is a well-known work of Agatha Christie, which is capable of making a connection between the Appellant company and mark upon mentioning.

The Court thus said, “The impugned order is also liable to be set aside, in my view, as being unreasoned. The right to register a mark under which one intends to provide goods or services is a valuable right, partaking of the character of Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution of India."

It added, "Any decision not to allow registration of a mark has, therefore, to be informed by reasons which should be apparent on the face of the decision. The impugned order, in my view, is bereft of sufficient reasons to justify the decision taken therein.”

Cause Title: Agatha Christie Ltd. vs Registrar of Trade Marks