Trade mark decision

BL Number

O/175/02

Decision date

23 April 2002

Hearing officer

Mr S P Rowan

Mark

BLARNEY

Classes

32

Registered Proprietor

Blarney Spring Water (UK) Ltd

Applicants for Declaration of Invalidity

Irish Water Resources Ltd

Application for Invalidation

Section 47(1) (Section 3(6))

Result

Application for declaration of invalidity successful.

Points Of Interest

• Bad Faith: failure to comply with a statutory requirement

Summary

The application for invalidation was founded in the fact that the applicants for registration did not exist at the time the application was made. This fact was not disputed by the registered proprietor. The applicants contended that this meant that the application for registration was made in bad faith; the registered proprietor countered that it was simply a mistake, which had harmed nobody.

The Hearing Officer too, on the evidence, accepted that it was a mistake; there was no basis for a finding that there had been an intention to mislead anyone. However, after a review of the submissions and leading cases on the subject the Hearing Officer concluded that bad faith could be found in a simple failure to comply with a requirement of the Act. A non-existent applicant could not have a bona fide intention to use. The allegation of bad faith succeeded accordingly.

The Hearing Officer went on to consider whether the application had been deficient from the start and therefore, for practical purposes, a nullity. However, he came to no settled view on this point.

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URL: http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKIntelP/2002/o17502.html