The Trade Marks Regulations 2018 - Relative Grounds of Refusal

Jane Lambert

Yesterday being Burns Night I could not resist this photo of an outsize mouse from the Burns Birthplace Museum in Alloway. This mouse may well be "sleekit" but hardly "wee" and not obviously timorous either.

In this fourth article on the new trade marks law, I consider relative grounds of refusal.  These are circumstances in which the Intellectual Property Office can refuse to register a sign as a trade mark on the ground that the registration would be incompatible with an earlier trade mark registration or application or some other intellectual property right.  This article should be read in conjunction with The New Trade Marks Law which I published in NIPC Law on 12 Jan 2019.

Readers will recall that the law has changed because certain articles of Directive (EU) 2015/2436 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2015 to approximate the laws of the Member States relating to trade marks came into force on 14 Jan 2019. Art 55 repealed Directive 2008/95/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 October 2008 to approximate the laws of the Member States relating to trade marks (Codified version) with effect from 15 Jan 2019. Art 54 (1) required member states to bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with the Directive by 14 Jan 2019. The legislation that implements that requirement is a statutory instrument known as The Trade Marks Regulations 2018.

The first two paragraphs of art 5 of Directive 2015/2436 are very similar to the first two paragraphs of art 4 of the previous Directive.  Art 5 (3) (a) of the new Directive is similar to art 4 (3) of the previous one.  The main difference is the insertion of new subparagraphs (b) and (c):

"Furthermore, a trade mark shall not be registered or, if registered, shall be liable to be declared invalid where:
..............................................
(b) an agent or representative of the proprietor of the trade mark applies for registration thereof in his own name without the proprietor's authorisation, unless the agent or representative justifies his action;
(c) and to the extent that, pursuant to Union legislation or the law of the Member State concerned providing for protection of designations of origin and geographical indications:

(i)  an application for a designation of origin or a geographical indication had already been submitted in accordance with Union legislation or the law of the Member State concerned prior to the date of application for registration of the trade mark or the date of the priority claimed for the application, subject to its subsequent registration;
(ii)  that designation of origin or geographical indication confers on the person authorised under the relevant law to exercise the rights arising therefrom the right to prohibit the use of a subsequent trade mark."

S.5 of the Trade Marks Act 1994 provides for relative grounds of refusal in the United Kingdom and the changes to s.5 that are needed for compliance with Directive 2015/2436 are made by reg 5 of the Trade Marks Regulations 2018.

That regulation goes further than is necessary for compliance with Directive 2015?2436:

"5.—(1) Section 5 is amended as follows. 

(2) After subsection (3), insert—

'(3A) Subsection (3) applies irrespective of whether the goods and services for which the trade mark is to be registered are identical with, similar to or not similar to those for which the earlier trade mark is protected.'

(3) In subsection (4) (a), for 'trade, or' substitute 'trade, where the condition in subsection (4A) is met,'.

(4) In subsection (4), after paragraph (a) insert—

'(aa) by virtue of any provision of EU law, or any enactment or rule of law, providing for protection of designations of origin or geographical indications, where the condition in subsection (4B) is met, or'.

(5) In subsection (4) (b)— 

(a) after 'paragraph (a)' insert 'or (aa)'; and
(b) omit ', design right or registered designs' and substitute 'or the law relating to industrial property rights. 

(6) After subsection (4), insert—

'(4A) The condition mentioned in subsection (4)(a) is that the rights to the unregistered trade mark or other sign were acquired prior to the date of application for registration of the trade mark or date of the priority claimed for that application.
(4B) The condition mentioned in subsection 4(aa) is that—
(a) an application for a designation of origin or a geographical indication has been submitted prior to the date of application for registration of the trade mark or the date of the priority claimed for that application, and
(b ) the designation of origin or (as the case may be) geographical indication is subsequently registered.'.

(7) After subsection (5) insert—

'(6) Where an agent or representative (“R”) of the proprietor of a trade mark applies, without the proprietor’s consent, for the registration of the trade mark in R’s own name, the application is to be refused unless R justifies that action.'.

Those changes appear in the IPO's unofficial consolidation of the Trade Marks Act 1994.

The new subsection (3A) inserted by reg 5 (2) reinforces the deletion of the words

"is to be registered for goods or services which are not similar to those for which the earlier trade mark is protected" 

from s. 5 (3) (b) of the Act as originally enacted by reg  7 (1) of the Trade Marks (Proof of Use) Regulations 2004 (SI 2004 No 946) in order to give effect to the Court of Justice's decision in Case C-292/00, Davidoff & Cie and another v Gofkid Ltd. [2003] FSR 28, [2003] EUECJ C-292/00, [2003] ECR I-389, [2003] ECR I-00389, [2003] 1 WLR 1714.

Art 5 (3) (b) of Directive 2015/2436 is implemented by the insertion of the new subsection (6).  Paragraph 9 of the IPO's Guidance Implementation of the EU Trade Mark Directive 2015 explains the reason for the insertion:

"If someone acting as your agent or representative applies for, or has registered, your trade mark in their name without your permission, you can seek to remedy the situation. The options for doing so are changing slightly, and mean that they now apply to any owner of a trade mark, whether they are based in the UK or abroad."

The next paragraph adds:

"If the trade mark has been applied for, but has not been registered, you may seek to have the application refused by opposing it. You can only do so if the mark has been published. If the mark is still pending you can ask the IPO to notify you when it is published, by filing an e-Alert. You can check the status of the mark using the search facility on the IPO’s website."

There are parallel amendments to s.47 to permit invalidity proceedings on that ground.

Reg 5 (4), (5) and (6) implement art 5 (3) (c) of Directive 2015/2436.

Anyone wishing to discuss this article or trade mark law generally should call me on 020 7404 5252 during office hours or send me a message through my contact form.