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United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office Decisions |
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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office Decisions >> COFFEE TIME DONUTS DESERTS (Trade Mark: Invalidity) [2001] UKIntelP o24501 (5 June 2001) URL: http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKIntelP/2001/o24501.html Cite as: [2001] UKIntelP o24501 |
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For the whole decision click here: o24501
Result
Application for declaration of invalidity Section 47(1) - Successful
Application for rectification of the Register Section 60 - Failed
Points Of Interest
Summary
The action for invalidation was founded in the applicants' allegation that the registration was applied for in bad faith. The evidence was deficient and unsatisfactory in a number of ways (was there a 'joint venture' or an incipient 'franchise' arrangement?), but clearly a business relationship had been envisaged. In the course of the discussions (or negotiations) the registered proprietor had applied for the mark without the knowledge or permission of Canadian owners of the mark in Canada. The Hearing Officer concluded that this amounted to ‘bad faith’ and the applicants succeeded under Section 47(1).
Under Section 60 the applicants sought to have the register rectified by the substitution of their own name in place of the registered proprietor’s, claiming (i) the registered proprietor should be regarded as their agent or representative; (ii) the Act should be read to cover "putative, or purported or potential agents" (otherwise foreign trade mark owners would have less protection where negotiations had been abortive than where they had been successful); or (iii) the provisions should cover 'fiduciary relationships' arising in the context of negotiations. For various reasons, but principally the absence of a settled business relationship, and doubts about the position of joint venture partners or franchisees in the context of Section 60, the Hearing Officer declined to rectify the Register.
