P L D 1992 Karachi 393 (PLP)

This is an appeal under section 76 of the Trade Marks Act, 1940.

2. The appellant had applied for registration of their trade mark "PREMIER'S PAKILAND". in Class 34 in respect of cigarettes etc. The said application was examined and following objections were raised in the show cause notice. "(a) That the applied mark is objectionable under section 8(a) of the Trade Marks Act, 1940, as it conflicts with other cited pending marks. (b) That the mark is objectionable under section 6(i) of the Trade Marks Act, 1940, as it is a geographical name. The copy of show‑cause notice is annexed and marked as 'B'."

3. The appellant replied to the said show‑cause notice. The reply was not found satisfatctory by the Registrar and the application was accordingly refused. 4. 1 have heard Mr. Saleem Ghulam Hussain, learned Advocate for the appellant. There is no appearance for the respondent . In compliance of order of this Court dated 2‑10‑1991 the appellant's counsel had filed a statement to the effect that the trade marks cited in the show‑cause notice have been refused by the Trade Marks Registry and that no subsequent application for registration of trade mark 'PREMIER'S PAKLAND' in Class 34 has been filed. In view of this statement the objection that the applied trade mark conflicts with other cited pending trade marks goes away.

6. So far as ‑the contention that the words 'PAK & LAND' are to be treated separately and the word Pak's abbreviation which means Pakistan is not registrable as observed by a learned Single Judge of Lahore High Court reported in 1988 MLD 1287 Noon Pakistan v. United Dairy Farms Limited is concerned, I have gone through the ruling; it is not applicable to the present case. The registration was refused by the Court on the ground that it resembles with the registered trade mark 'Noorpur' of the opponent. So far as the word 'Pak' was concerned it was observed that it was recognized as abbreviation of 'Pakistan', but, this does not appear to be the ground for refusal of the registration of the trade mark. As against this we have got a decision of our own Court wherein my learned brother Mamoon Kazi, J., held in the case of Bengal Fibre Industries Limited v. Lawrencepur Woollen Textile Mills Limited 1987 MLD 509, that word "POLY PAK" read as a whole could not be regarded as prohibited although woid "Poly' and "Pak" were not separately registrable. Appeal, was therefore, accepted and the case was remanded to the Registry of Trade Marks for taking further action in accordance with law.

7. In the present case, so far as the first objection is concerned the same has also become redundant in view of the refusal of the registration of the, trade mark on account of which the said objection was raised. With regard to the second objection it may be pointed out that the word "PAKIAND" has to be read as a whole and in that case it does not become a geographical name. I ' therefore, allow the appeal and remand the case to the Registry of Trade Marks for taking further action in respect of the appellant's application in accordance with law. H.BX./P‑236/K