12. Prohibition of use of Red Cross and other emblems.—No person shall, without the approval of
the Central Government, use for any purpose whatsoever—
(a) the emblem of a red cross with vertical and horizontal arms of the same length on, and
completely surrounded by, a white ground, or the designation “Red Cross” or “Geneva Cross”;
(b) the emblem of a red crescent moon on , and completely surrounded by, a white ground, or the
designation “Red Crescent”;
(c) the following emblem in red on, and completely surrounded by, a white ground, that is to say,
a lion passing from right to left of, and with its face turned towards, the observer, holding erect in its
raised right forepaw a scimitar, with, appearing above the lion‟s back, the upper half of the sun
shooting forth rays, or the designation “Red Lion and Sun”;
(d) the emblem of a white or silver cross with vertical and horizontal arms of the same length on,
and completely surrounded by, a red ground, being the heraldic emblem of the Swiss
Confederation; or
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(e) any design or wording so nearly resembling any of the emblems or designations specified in
the preceding clauses of this section as to be capable of being mistaken for, or, as the case may be,
understood as referring to, one of those emblems.
13. Penalty.—If any person contravenes any of the provisions of section 12, he shall be punishable
with fine which may extend to five hundred rupees, and be liable to forfeit any goods upon or in
connection with which the emblem, designation, design or wording was used by that person.
14. Offences by companies.—(1) If the person committing an offence under this Chapter is a
company, the company as well as every person in charge of, and responsible to, the company for the
conduct of its business at the time of the commission of the offence shall be deemed to be guilty of the
offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly:
Provided that, nothing contained in this sub-section shall render any such person liable to any
punishment if he proves that the offence was committed without his knowledge or that he exercised all
due diligence to prevent the commission of such offence.
(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), where an offence under this Chapter has
been committed by a company and it is proved that the offence has been committed with the consent or
connivance of, or that the commission of the offence is attributable to any neglect on the part of, any
director, manager, secretary or other officer of the company, such director, manager, secretary or other
officer shall also be deemed to be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and
punished accordingly.
Explanation.—For the purposes of this section,—
(a) “company” means any body corporate and includes a firm or other association of
individuals, and
(b) “director” in relation to a firm means a partner in the firm.
15. Saving.—In the case of a trade mark registered before the coming into force of this Act, the
foregoing provisions of this Chapter shall not apply by reason only of its consisting of or containing a
design or wording which reproduces or resembles an emblem or designation specified in clause (b) or
clause (c) of section 12; and where a person is charged with using such a design or wording for any
purpose and it is proved that he used it otherwise than as, or as part of, a trade mark so registered, it shall
be a defence for him to prove—
(a) that he lawfully used that design or wording for that purpose before the coming into force of
this Act; or
(b) in a case where he is charged with using the design or wording upon goods, that the design or
wording had been applied to the goods before he acquired them by some other person who had
manufactured or dealt with the goods in the course of trade and who lawfully used the design or
wording upon similar goods before the coming into force of this Act.
16. Use of „Red Cross‟ and other emblems on Indian ship or aircraft.—The provisions of this
Chapter extend to the use in or outside India of any emblem, designation, design or wording as is referred
to in section 12 on any Indian ship or aircraft.