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United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office Decisions


You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office Decisions >> BUSINESS ZONE PLUS BUSINESS ZONE (Trade Mark: Appointed Person) [2007] UKIntelP o36407 (13 December 2007)
URL: http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKIntelP/2007/o36407.html
Cite as: [2007] UKIntelP o36407

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BUSINESS ZONE PLUS BUSINESS ZONE (Trade Mark: Appointed Person) [2007] UKIntelP o36407 (13 December 2007)

For the whole decision click here: o36407

Trade mark decision

BL Number
O/364/07
Decision date
13 December 2007
Hearing officer
Ms A Michaels
Mark
BUSINESS ZONE PLUS BUSINESS ZONE
Classes
09, 38
Registered Proprietor
T-Mobile (UK) Limited
Applicants for a declaration of Invalidity/Appellants
02 Holdings Limited
Invalidity
Appeal to the Appointed Person against the decision of the Registrar’s Hearing Officer in invalidity proceedings

Result

Appeal successful, Hearing officer’s decision set aside and the invalidity action remitted to the Registrar for further processing.

Points Of Interest

  • 1. Invalidation actions against marks already revoked, surrendered or abandoned
  • "It would not be appropriate to construe the phrase (Section 47(1)) as applying only to “live” marks ....”
  • 2. Abuse of process; delay in launching proceedings; in this case the delay was not such as to justify striking out.
  • 3. Appeals raising only academic or theoretical issues.
  • 4. See also BL O/091/07

Summary

At first instance (see BL O/091/07) the Hearing Officer maintained the view that the Registry would not process invalidation actions against registrations no longer on the register. He had also decided that the action would be an abuse of process. 02 appealed to the Appointed Person. Having reviewed the matter and the particular circumstances of this case the Appointed Person concluded that Section 47(1) should not be construed as applying only to live marks. She also found that in the circumstances of the case the invalidation application was not an abuse of process. She set aside the Hearing Officer’s decision and remitted the matter to the Registry for further consideration.


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