48. Registration conclusive after 7 years
Feedback & supportLast amended by an amending law of 1991.
In all legal proceedings relating to a trade mark registered under this Act in Part A of the register (including applications under section 39) the original registration in Part A of the register of the trade mark shall after the expiration of 7 years from the date of the original registration be taken to be valid in all respects unless the original registration was obtained by fraud or unless the trade mark offends against section 15:Provided that nothing in this Act shall entitle the proprietor or a registered user of a registered trade mark to interfere with or restrain the use by any person of a trade mark identical with or nearly resembling it in relation to goods or services in relation to which that person or a predecessor in title of his has continuously used that trade mark from a date anterior —
trade mark
“trade mark” means —(a)except in relation to a defensive or a certification trade mark, a mark used or proposed to be used in relation to goods or services for the purpose of indicating or so as to indicate, a connection in the course of trade between the goods or services and a person who has the right, either as proprietor or as registered user, to use the mark, whether with or without an indication of the identity of that person;(b)in relation to a defensive trade mark, a mark registered under section 41; and(c)in relation to a certification trade mark, a mark registered under section 68;
to the use of the first-mentioned trade mark in relation to those goods or services by the proprietor or a predecessor in title of his; or
to the registration of the first-mentioned trade mark in respect of those goods or services in the name of the proprietor or a predecessor in title of his,whichever is the earlier, or to object (on such use being proved) to that person being put on the register for that identical or nearly resembling trade mark in respect of those goods or services under section 25.
The reference in the proviso to subsection (1) to the use of a trade mark by a person’s predecessor in title shall, as respects use in relation to sevices before 1st March 1991, be construed as references to use by any predecessor of his in business.
Nothing in section 46(1) shall be construed as making applicable to a trade mark registered in Part B of the register subsection (1) relating to a trade mark registered in Part A of the register.
register
“register” means the register of trade marks kept under the provisions of this Act;