In Brief
Royal Orchid Hotels Limited sought to register its trademarks 'Royal Orchid' and 'Royal Orchid Hotels' in class 42 (hotel services). The Intellectual Property Appellate Board allowed the registration, reasoning that high-income hotel customers would not be confused by the petitioner's mark and Kamat Hotels' 'Orchid' mark. The High Court reversed this, finding that Kamat Hotels was the prior user and that the marks were confusingly similar despite different customer demographics. The Supreme Court upheld the High Court, holding that its elaborate consideration of evidence was reasonable and justified, refusing to interfere with the judgment dismissing the petitioner's registration claim.
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