ABSTRACT
Introduction 578
15.1 Trade Marks 579
15.2 Registration of a Mark 586
15.3 The Definition of a Trade Mark 592
15.4 The Absolute Grounds of Refusal 604
15.5 Not a Trade Mark 608
15.6 Non-Distinctive Signs 609
15.7 Descriptive Marks 614
15.8 Customary Marks 620
15.9 The Proviso to Section 3(1)(b)–(d) of the TMA 1994 621
15.10 Shapes 624
15.11 Objectionable and Deceptive Marks 629
15.12 Prohibited Marks 631
15.13 Specially Protected Emblems 631
15.14 Applications Made in Bad Faith 631
15.15 The Relative Grounds of Refusal 636
15.16 The Comparison 638
15.17 Raising the Relative Grounds of Refusal 640
15.18 Honest Concurrent User 641
Trade marks are a source of information. They are the by-product of market enterprise and marketplace competition. Trade marks identify goods and services1 in the same way that names identify individuals and companies, and have the advantage of being able to do so in attractive and internationally recognisable ways. Increasingly, trade marks are used to give products and services a ‘feel’ desirable to consumers in its own right.
