25.
The term "trade mark" is defined in s 17 of the TMA as a "sign"[1] which is used or intended to be used to distinguish goods or services dealt with or provided in the course of trade by a person from goods or services so dealt with or provided by any other person. A trade mark must be capable of graphic representation (s 40).
The Registrar is obliged by s 68 to register a trade mark which is accepted for registration and in respect of which there has been no successful opposition. A trade mark may be registered with limitations as to colour, in respect of the whole or part of the trade mark. Examples are the "Winfield" registration numbers 752287 and 917043. To the extent that a trade mark is registered without limitations of the exclusive right of use as to colour, the trade mark is taken to be registered for all colours (s 70).
Section 21 states that a registered trade mark "is personal property" and that equities in respect of it "may be enforced in the same way as equities in respect of any other personal property". It is important to note that a registered trade mark may be assigned or transmitted, with or without the associated goodwill and for all or some only of the goods or services for which it is registered (s 106). From the date of registration (s 20(3)), the registered owner is given by s 20(1) "the exclusive rights" (a) to use the trade mark and (b) to authorise others to do so, in relation to the goods or services in respect of which the trade mark is registered (emphasis added). Use by an authorised user is taken for the purposes of the Act to be a use by the owner (s 7(3)).
The exclusive right of use in respect of the goods or services for which there is a registration is given effect and extended by the infringement provision in s 120. Under the chapeau "When is a registered trade mark infringed?", s 120 gives three distinct answers. The first appears in sub-s (1), the second in sub-s (2), and the third in sub-ss (3) and (4). Section 120, excluding the appended Notes, reads:
"(1) A person infringes a registered trade mark if the person uses as a trade mark a sign that is substantially identical with, or deceptively similar to, the trade mark in relation to goods or services in respect of which the trade mark is registered.
(2) A person infringes a registered trade mark if the person uses as a trade mark a sign that is substantially identical with, or deceptively similar to, the trade mark in relation to:
- ↑ The term "sign" includes any letter, word, name, signature, numeral, device, brand, heading, label, ticket, aspect of packaging, shape, colour, sound or scent, or any combination thereof (s 6(1)).
