Trade mark decision

BL Number

O/440/99

Decision date

6 December 1999

Hearing officer

Mr S Thorley QC

Mark

ADRENALINE

Classes

16, 22, 25, 35, 41

Applicant for Revocation & Invalidation

Trocadero PLC

Registered Proprietor

Nicholas Dynes Gracey

Appeal to the Appointed Person to have the decision of Mr G Attfield dated 1 October 1999 (SRIS O/336/99) set aside since it was reached without first having held a hearing contrary to Rule 48 of the Trade Mark Rules 1994.

Result

Appeal allowed. Decision set aside and proceedings remitted to the Registrar.

Points Of Interest

• 1. In contested proceedings the Registrar needs to bear in mind his judicial role.
• 2. It is important in all proceedings that the grounds relied upon are clearly set down so that all parties know the challenge they face.
• 3. The matter of costs was dealt with in the Appointed Person decision dated 2 March 2000 (SRIS O/119/00)

Summary

The Appointed Person went into some detail in reviewing the circumstances relating to the issue of the Registrar’s decision. In particular he expressed concern about the delays which had occurred prior to the issue of the decision on 1 October 1999 and suggested that in contested proceedings the Registrar had to be careful not to become too involved with either party since, in such proceedings, he had a judicial role to play - rather than administrative.

In reviewing the voluminous correspondence between Mr Gracey and the Registry the Appointed Person commented on the unusual prose style adopted by Mr Gracey and noted that this makes correspondence somewhat difficult to understand and indeed this occurred when Mr Gracey lodged his appeal in that he did not set out clearly the grounds of appeal. However, the Appointed Person went on to accept the Notice of Appeal as complying with Rule 53 and concluded from the correspondence that Mr Gracey had indeed asked to be heard on the substantive issues prior to any decision being issued. The Registrar was thus in breach of Rule 48 and thus had no power to issue his decision. The decision was thus set aside and the proceedings remitted to the Registrar for a hearing to be arranged to give Mr Gracey the opportunity to be heard.