IBNlive reports on a legal spat between Pearson which bought Prentice Hall Inc in 1998 and Prentice Hall India, on the use of the Prentice Hall name in India.
The Delhi High Court had earlier ordered Prentice Hall of India Pvt Ltd (PHI) to drop Prentice Hall from its name. However, PHI filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking to quash the High Court order.The Supreme Court has acted on the petition and has issued a notice to US-based Pearson Education Inc.
The High Court had ordered that the Chairman of PHI, Ashoke K Ghosh to either drop the words Prentice Hall from its name and let Pearson transfer its shareholding without any consideration or sell its shares to the US firm for Rs 20 crore.
According to a report in PTI, the High Court had also held Ghosh guilty of oppression and mismanagement under Section 397-398 of the Companies Act.
PHI had entered into an agreement with US-based Prentice Hall Inc in 1963 for publishing books. However, Prentice Hall Inc was taken over by Pearson in 1998 and the company tried to restrain PHI from using the name Prentice Hall any further.
PHI counsels K K Venugopal and Atul Sharma told PTI that the name 'Prentice Hall' had acquired tremendous goodwill in India and had become PHI's property by virtue of its use for the last 43 years and this must be protected by the court.
Moreover, Pearson was neither a shareholder as per its register of members nor it had applied for transfer of shares in its name, the counsels argued.
In its petition, PHI said the company would suffer severe loss if it was directed to drop the established name.
The Indian publisher also said Pearson was not entitled to file petitions as it had not shown any interests in the affairs of PHI for several years. Besides, the US company had alleged oppression and mismanagement only after PHI protested starting of a competing business by Pearson, it added.
Asoke Ghosh, the Managing Director of Prentice Hall India, was originally an employee of Prentice Hall India and later bought out the erstwhile Indian owner and over time increased his stake to a majority shareholding. More details on the nature of the spat are provided in a September 2005 judgement of the Delhi High Court.
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Posted by: Dr. Nasir Chaudhari | October 24, 2009 at 09:47 AM