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[2001] ZASCA 109
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Arjo Wiggins Ltd v Idem (Pty) Ltd and Another (69/2000) [2001] ZASCA 109; [2002] 2 All SA 147 (A) (28 September 2001)
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IN THE SUPREME COURT OF APPEAL
OF SOUTH
AFRICA
REPORTABLE
CASE NO: 69/2000
In the matter between:
ARJO WIGGINS
LTD Appellant
and
IDEM (PTY) LTD First
Respondent
REGISTRAR OF TRADE MARKS Second Respondent
_________________________________________________________
BEFORE: Nienaber, Harms, Cameron, Navsa JJA and Froneman AJA
HEARD: 10 September 2001
DELIVERED: 28 September
2001
(1) Promotional use on goods not themselves the object of trade
is not bona fide use for the purposes of s 27 of the Trade Marks Act
194 of
1993. (2) Once a trade mark proprietor proves relevant use within a subset of
category, removal will not be ordered unless
it is evident to the Court (or a
foundation is laid suggesting) that the expungement sought describes a
commercially coherent category
of goods within the existing specification.
_________________________________________________________
JUDGMENT
_________________________________________________________
CAMERON
JA:
[1] The appellant, a United Kingdom company (“Arjo”),
is the proprietor in South Africa of the registered trade mark
“Idem”. Its registration, granted in 1972, is in respect of
“paper, paper articles, cardboard, cardboard articles and paper
stationery”. Arjo trades in South Africa through an associated company
registered locally as a foreign corporation, Carbonless
Papers Ltd
(“CPL”), which is its exclusive distributor. The first respondent
(“the respondent”), a company
incorporated locally in 1970, held for
some twenty years until its expiry in 1993 the registered trade mark
“Idem” in respect of “stamps, stamp pads, drawing
boards, compasses, drawing squares, photographs, writing and drawing instruments
for students, plastic products, paint brushes, printing letters, pens, pencils
and other writing instruments”. After the respondent’s
registration
lapsed, Arjo in 1997 issued summons, claiming an interdict, royalties and
associated relief for infringement in terms
of s 34 of the Trade Marks Act 194
of 1993 (“the Act”)[1] of
the Idem mark through its use on paper, cardboard, carbon paper and
envelopes. The respondent rejoined with an application for a stay of
those
proceedings, and then launched its own foray, an expungement application in
terms of s 27 of the Act.[2] (The
Registrar of Trade Marks, who abides the outcome, was the second respondent.)
It was common cause that the respondent is an
“interested person” as
contemplated in s 27, and that it has legal standing to challenge Arjo’s
registration.
Before Hartzenberg J in the Court below the respondent failed to
secure a stay of Arjo’s action, but succeeded in obtaining
the main relief
it sought: the deletion from the register of trade marks of Arjo’s
Idem mark in respect of all goods other than “carbonless
paper, namely specialized paper whose purpose it is to perform the
same function
as carbon paper because of its special characteristics”. There is no
appeal against Hartzenberg J’s refusal
of a stay; but with his leave Arjo
appeals against the expungement order.
[2] The facts are uncomplicated. Arjo’s South African
sales of “Idem” paper products have so far been confined
to sheets and rolls of carbonless copying paper (as the name of its local
distributor
indeed suggests). The product consists of high quality paper
chemically treated on its underside so that writing on its face can
be carried
through to a second sheet below. Arjo’s deponents say that sales of this
product occur “essentially”
to the printing industry. Printers then
use Idem carbonless duplication paper to produce printed matter for their
customers. This use of the mark Arjo calls its “primary”
use. But
it also describes a “secondary” use — address books, plain
paper notepads, carbonless duplication notepads,
lightly adhesive stickers (such
as lawyers often use), desk note blocks, pens and pencils, on all of which the
Idem mark is placed. These secondary products are not sold. They are
distributed to CPL’s customers and potential customers (presumably
also
printers) for promotional purposes. Arjo admits that the annual quantum
“has not been extensive”.
[3] From these facts stem the
disputants’ conflicting contentions, which relate to two questions. Does
Arjo’s “secondary”
use of the Idem mark constitute
“bona fide use” of the trade mark within the meaning of s 27 of the
Act? If it does, there has been
relevant use of the trade mark within the
specification granted not only on carbonless copying paper but also on at least
paper in
its general sense and on paper articles. From this it would follow
that the respondent was not entitled to the ambit of the relief
it obtained in
the Court below. Even if the answer is No, the second question remains: to
what extent, if any, is the respondent
on the evidence before us entitled to
removal of Arjo’s registration?
[4] On the papers and in the Court
below Arjo’s principal argument resisting expungement was that it had in
fact made “bona
fide use” as contemplated in s 27 of the trade mark
such as to entitle it to maintain its registration in respect of all goods
within the specification. It also asserted that it would not be just, and
contrary to practice in South Africa and most other countries,
for the
specification to be limited to the “extremely narrow range of goods”
the respondent claimed in its notice of
motion. The parties’ submissions
in the Court below focused on the first question, regarding which Hartzenberg J
held that
bona fide use required trade in the goods concerned. This finding was
the focus of the parties’ written argument on appeal.
But when the appeal
was called Mr Puckrin for Arjo indicated two adjustments to its position. Arjo
abandoned its specification
in respect of “cardboard, cardboard articles
and paper stationery”, and sought to defend a registration only in respect
of “paper and paper articles”. Second, Arjo’s argument now
concentrated its attack on the confined ambit of registration
Hartzenberg J
granted in the Court below, seeking to substitute the (reduced) specification it
had conceded.
Bona fide use in terms of s 27
[5] Arjo’s
counsel, while not advancing further argument for the contention that its
secondary use of the mark constituted bona
fide use for statutory purposes, did
not abandon that position, which must therefore be considered. Arjo’s
submission was
that although the secondary products were not sold, their
distribution for promotional purposes constituted bona fide use in a commercial
context of the mark in furtherance of Arjo’s business in South Africa.
The purpose of applying the Idem mark to the secondary goods was to
distinguish them from other similar goods, and the mark served that purpose.
Relevant use for
statutory purposes included use on goods subsidiary to those in
which Arjo mainly dealt, and included use for the promotion of goods.
The
respondent, by contrast, submitted that bona fide use had to be use in
connection with the particular goods in respect of which
the trade mark is
registered, for the purpose of furthering trade in those goods, and not for any
other purpose.
[6] The most authoritative treatment in our trade mark
law of the concept of bona fide use is that by Trollip J in Gulf Oil
Corporation v Rembrandt Fabrikante en Handelaars (Edms)
Bpk,[3] where “bona fide
user” by a registered trade mark proprietor in resisting rectification of
the register under s 136 of
the Trade Marks Act 9 of 1916 (“the 1916
Act”) was at issue. This Court confirmed the judgment of Trollip
J,[4] but Steyn CJ expressly withheld
endorsement of the comprehensive exposition of the concept at first
instance.[5] Trollip J’s
treatment was, however, resurrected and approved in McDonald’s
Corporation v Joburgers Drive-Inn Restaurant (Pty) Ltd and
another,[6] where EM Grosskopf JA,
although dealing with the avowedly “somewhat different” context of s
36 of the present Act,[7] nevertheless
considered Trollip J’s reasoning to be “entirely
applicable”.[8]
[7] The issue
in Rembrandt was whether the registered proprietor of a trade mark had
shown bona fide use of its mark in relation to lubricating oils. It did
not in
the ordinary course of its business manufacture or produce such oils and proved
only comparatively negligible sales of the
substance after becoming aware of a
competitor’s application for registration of its mark for lubricating oils
and an impending
application for rectification. Trollip J inferred that the
trade mark proprietor had no intention of conducting trade in the product
“in a commercial sense” and that it did not sell or advertise the
oils under its mark “with the object or intention
of protecting,
facilitating or furthering any trade in those
goods”.[9] Since use merely to
protect a trade mark from expungement “without the proprietor’s
having any intention of trading
in the goods in respect of which it was
registered” did not constitute bona fide use for statutory purposes,
rectification
was granted.[10] On
appeal this Court confirmed the finding regarding absence of intent to trade
under the mark “as a commercial enterprise”,
and affirmed that use
“for an ulterior purpose, unassociated with a genuine intention of
pursuing the object for which the
Act allows the registration of a trade mark
and protects its use, cannot pass as bona fide
user”.[11]
[8] The
present matter differs from Rembrandt in several respects. First, there
is no evidence (and the respondent does not suggest) that Arjo started
distributing the promotional
materials to thwart an impending expungement
application. Second, I think the assertion by Arjo’s deponents that the
distribution
of the secondary products, albeit not extensive, was “on a
commercial scale”, must be accepted. Although Arjo gives
no indication of
its business turnover or the number of its customers (making it difficult to
gauge precisely the import or impact
of promotional distribution), the evidence
indicates that some 4 000 promotional items were distributed annually. On any
scale this
cannot be discounted; it certainly dwarfs the proprietor’s
puny output in Rembrandt. More important, lastly, Arjo’s
distribution of these products was in a more specific sense also
“commercial”,
in that it was conducted with a view to promoting
knowledge, recognition and acceptance of the Idem mark and more
especially that mark in relation to Arjo’s primary commercial product,
namely carbonless copying paper.
It seems to me therefore that use of the mark
on the secondary products promoted or was intended to promote trade in the
primary
product (though it would not seem that the use in question was for
statutory purposes “in relation to” the traded
goods).[12]
[9] Despite these
differences, both the rationale of Rembrandt and its outcome seem to me
to indicate that the use of the trade mark on the promotional products did not
constitute bona fide use
as contemplated by the statute. The basis of the
decision in Rembrandt was that to constitute bona fide use the proprietor
had to use the trade mark upon goods with the object or intention of protecting,
facilitating or furthering trade in those goods. It is true that there the
inquiry into bona fides concerned the proprietor’s
authenticity of purpose
in orchestrating a tiny handful of sales with the objective of protecting its
mark from expungement on the
ground of non-use. Here the proprietor had no such
objective, but only the commercially authentic aim of promoting sales of its
traded goods. But the core of Trollip J’s reasoning, as approved by this
Court, was not that bona fide use is negatived by
the ulterior purpose of
thwarting a competitor’s registration (a conclusion incompatible with
Electrolux Ltd v Electrix Ltd and
another,[13] upon which both
Trollip J and Steyn CJ relied), but that, whatever the proprietor’s actual
motive, inauthenticity of statutory
purpose is established by absence of
commercial trade in the article on which the mark is used.
[10] It is in
this context that Trollip J’s formulation of the general purpose of the
statutory system of trade mark protection,
expressly adopted in
McDonald’s, must be understood:
“Now the system of registering trade marks is designed to protect, facilitate and further the trading in the particular goods in respect of which the trade mark is registered. The very name, 'trade mark', connotes that, and the definition thereof in sec. 96 of the Act confirms it. I would therefore say that 'bona fide user' in sec. 136 means a user by the proprietor of his registered trade mark in connection with the particular goods in respect of which it is registered with the object or intention primarily of protecting, facilitating, and furthering his trading in such goods, and not for some other, ulterior object.”[14]
[11] Though
Trollip J attached some significance to the word “user” in contrast
to “use” in the 1916
Act,[15] both the Trade Marks Act 62
of 1963 (“the 1963 Act”) and the present Act refer simply to
“bona fide use”,
and I conclude, as in the McDonald’s
case, that the reasoning of Trollip J is entirely applicable. Since absence of
intention to trade commercially in the particular
goods in respect of which the
trade mark is registered renders use of the mark statutorily inauthentic, it
must follow that use of
a trade mark on goods other than with the object of
promoting trade in those goods cannot constitute bona fide use for statutory
purposes, even if that use promotes trade in other goods. Although Arjo’s
use of the trade mark on the promotional goods was
“commercial” in
that it promoted goods in which it did trade, it was not commercial use in
relation to the goods on which
it was displayed, since those goods were not
being traded. And while the use of the trade mark on those goods was use in
order to
distinguish them from others’ similar goods, that use was not for
the purpose of trading in those goods, but in other goods
within the
specification. As it has been expressed elsewhere, regarding all items within
the specification other than carbonless
copying paper, Arjo proved no
“course of trading embarked on as an end in
itself”.[16]
[12] This
conclusion accords with the decision in Kodiak Trade
Mark,[17] upon which counsel for
the respondent relied. There, as in Rembrandt, there was no evidence of
“true trading” in the goods bearing the trade mark, and though the
goods had (as in the present
case) an intrinsic function, they were a
promotional vehicle for the trade mark proprietor’s main trade in other
goods. It
was held that no bona fide use under the United Kingdom Trade
Marks Act of 1938 had been established and expungement in respect
of the goods
in question was granted.
Removal from the register
[13] The question now is
the practical implications for the ambit of Arjo’s registration, and hence
for the outcome of the appeal,
of the conclusion that Arjo made bona fide use of
its trade mark in relation only to carbonless copying paper. The matter seems
to have been conducted in the Court below on the basis that if Arjo failed to
establish bona fide use in relation to goods other
than carbonless copying paper
if followed that its registration should be restricted to the traded goods.
However, Arjo’s
affidavits clearly signalled a separate challenge to the
narrow ambit of the specification the respondent sought in its notice of
motion,
and its counsel was entitled to press this issue on appeal.
[14] As
indicated earlier, at the hearing counsel for Arjo abandoned portion of its
registration and sought to defend a specification
embracing only “paper
and paper articles”. Counsel for the respondent, on the other hand,
maintained that paper was
not a homogeneous concept and that a registration for
“paper and paper articles” was too wide and nebulous. She therefore
urged that Arjo’s registration be cut down further. But she had
difficulty not only in defining precisely the ambit of the
registration she
supported, but in articulating the principle that underlay it. She emphasised
that Arjo’s traded product
is supplied “essentially” to the
printing industry. This led to the suggestion that Arjo’s registration
should
be confined to “carbonless paper and paper used in the printing
industry”. The manifest imprecision in this definition
was not the end of
counsel’s difficulties, for she conceded that carbon paper was so similar
in its practical applications
to carbonless copying paper that use of the trade
mark upon it would lie untenably close to Arjo’s entitlement. She
therefore
conceded that the registration should embrace also carbon
paper.
[15] This concession has obvious significance, since it entails
that Arjo is entitled to protection within the category “paper”
stretching beyond the ambit of its proved trading use of the mark. The
concession was properly made, but once made, it opened a
host of further
intractable problems of definition and delimitation. And counsel’s
difficulties were in due course compounded
when in written argument submitted
after the hearing she expanded the conceded ambit of the specification even
further. She now
suggested that the registration should comprise “paper
and paper articles, including carbonless copy paper, copy paper and
carbon
paper, but otherwise excluding paper stationery”. Apart from itself being
open to the charge of nebulousness, this
formulation adds “copy
paper” to the suggested specification. This, like carbon paper, lies
beyond Arjo’s proven
trade, and similarly entails a larger entitlement
than Arjo obtained in the Court below.
[16] The enumeration of these
complexities implies no criticism of counsel’s contribution to what was an
illuminating debate.
They arise from the subject-matter of the appeal itself.
At source the difficulties spring from the incontestable fact that Arjo
proved
statutorily relevant use of its trade mark on “paper” —
admittedly a sub-set of paper, but paper nonetheless,
since in the description
of the traded goods “carbonless” and “copying” are
merely attributes qualifying
a commodity, and that commodity is expressly
protected by the registration sought to be expunged. It is therefore not
surprising
that an attempt to draw lines within the commodity occasions both
conceptual and operational difficulties. If “paper”
is a nebulous
concept, to whom is it so? Again, what is “the printing industry”,
and what sorts of paper are distributed
within it? If a distinction is to be
drawn between carbonless copying paper and other sorts of paper, or between
paper supplied
to the printing industry and paper not so supplied, why not
between punched paper and unpunched paper; between lined and unlined
paper;
between white and coloured paper; or indeed between red and non-red
paper?
[17] In Minerva Trade
Mark,[18] Jacob J observed that
wide words in trade mark specifications can cover “what are commercially
quite different sorts of articles”.
In that case, the specification
included “printed matter”, which he held as a pure matter of
language could cover anything
on which there is printing. The applicant for
expungement was a publisher of literary titles. The specification was held not
to
apply to printed matter of a literary character, and was consequently revoked
in so far as it was registered for printed matter other
than stationery. The
question Jacob J asked was whether there had been non-use “in respect of a
significant subset of a wide
general description”, and one of the criteria
he applied was whether “it would be commercially nonsense to maintain the
registration for all goods [covered] by the wide words”. To similar
effect is Mercury Communications Ltd v Mercury Interactive (UK)
Ltd,[19] where Laddie J
postulated that a specification should be cut down where it covers goods which
are “quite unrelated” to
a proprietor’s “real trading
interests”.
[18] The Minerva decision is particularly
instructive, since the difference between printed stationery (in which the trade
mark proprietor dealt)
and literary texts (in which the objector traded) is
surely so evident as to invoke no contention. What is more, the attenuation
of
the specification (to exclude literary texts) was not only evident but precise
in its nature and ambit. The conceptual, operational
and functional differences
between the category protected for the proprietor’s use and that excluded
from it were manifest.
It is significant that Jacob J, in disapproving a
previous decision that doubted the feasibility of limiting a specification for
non-use of a subset, expressed agreement with an example that decision posited,
that a specification for “domestic containers”
would not be cut down
to “red tea caddies”. The question was whether the articles were
“commercially quite different”,
and the implication was that it
would indeed be “commercially nonsense” to cut down the
specification for “domestic
containers” to such a subset. Similar
in import is the example Arjo’s counsel gave, of a specification for
“wine”
where use of the trade mark in relation to only red wine is
proved. Counsel for the respondent conceded, rightly, that it would
not make
commercial sense to cut down the specification to red wine only. The concession
must of course be qualified to the extent
that it might be shown that red wine
(or any other specific type of “wine”) is commercially so
distinctive that limiting
a specification to that product would not constitute
“commercial nonsense”.
[19] These considerations illuminate
the present case. Arjo was challenged in the founding papers to defend its
registered specification.
It responded by alleging but failing to prove bona
fide use of a wide range of articles within the specification; and by proving
use of its trade mark upon a subset of a category expressly protected in the
specification, namely paper. So confronted, I do not
believe that Arjo was
required to do more. There is nothing to indicate that the subset at issue,
namely carbonless copying paper,
is commercially quite different from other
sorts of paper, nor is there anything to suggest that commercially it would be
nonsensical
to maintain registration of the
Idem mark, although used only on carbonless
copying paper, for paper in general. This approach is in my view supported by
Kerly’s Law of Trade Marks and Trade
Names[20] where the first step
in considering whether an over-broad specification should be revoked for non-use
is described thus:
“If the court or Registry decides that there has been genuine use but only on a particular item or in relation to a particular service, the first question is whether the specification extends unduly beyond the item or service? If so, the inquiry is this: how would the notional reasonable man describe that item? Naturally, the answer depends on all the circumstances, but the answer provides the wording appropriate for that item in the specification of goods.”
This test, the authors suggest, should avoid
what they call the “red tea caddy” problem. It will also, it seems
to me,
avoid the “carbonless copying paper” problem, for without
further information regarding trade practice or industrial
use, I venture to
suggest that the notional reasonable person would describe that item as
“paper”.
[20] On the facts in this case, there is no
conceptual, operational or functional basis for the further attenuation of the
proprietor’s
registration within the category in which the proprietor
proved statutorily relevant use, namely paper. This is not to decide that
under
s 27 of the Act the respondent bore an overall onus to convince the court to
exercise a discretion in its favour. This Court
held that the comparable
wording of the 1963 Act conferred a general or residual discretion to refuse
expungement, which was to be
exercised only in exceptional
circumstances.[21] Difficult
questions may arise about the discretion the equivalent wording of s 27(1)
appears to confer. On the approach in this
judgment those questions do not
arise. Nor does the question whether (as has been
suggested)[22] the extended
protection afforded a trade mark proprietor by the provisions of s 34(1)(b) in
regard to unauthorised use of a mark
on goods so similar to the
proprietor’s as to create “the likelihood of deception or
confusion”, is relevant to
the exercise of the discretion in s 27. Those
questions are not reached, since even accepting that an applicant for
expungement
is prima facie entitled to removal of the mark from the register
once non-use of a category of goods is shown (as this Court decided
under the
1963 statute),[23] and that the
court’s residual discretion would deny one so entitled a remedy only in
exceptional circumstances, the anterior
question is: in regard to what
expungible category of goods has non-use been shown? That question is primary,
and it must be answered
before the court can determine the ambit of the
expungement the applicant seeks.
[21] Unless, therefore, it is evident
to the Court (or the applicant lays a foundation suggesting) that the
expungement sought describes
a commercially coherent category of goods within
the existing specification, the relief the applicant seeks cannot be granted if
the proprietor has proved relevant use within the category. That is the
position in the present case, where, in sum, the proprietor
proved relevant use
of its trade mark within a protected category and there is nothing to show that
sustaining its registration in
respect of that category would not make
commercial sense.
[22] This conclusion represents substantial success for
Arjo, which is accordingly entitled to its costs on appeal. In the Court
below,
however, as indicated earlier, the matter was contested substantially on the
bona fide use issue, in regard to which the holding
at first instance has been
affirmed. I would therefore not change the costs order in that
Court.
[23] The following order is made:
(1) The appeal succeeds with costs, including the costs of two counsel.
(2) Par 1 of the order of the Court below is substituted with:
“(a) The trade mark registration no 72/0463 Idem in class 16 in the name of Arjo Wiggins Ltd is rectified in terms of s 27 of the Act by the deletion of all goods and the specification covered by the registration other than paper and paper articles.
(b) The first respondent is to pay the costs”.
E CAMERON
JUDGE OF APPEAL
NIENABER JA )
HARMS JA ) CONCUR
NAVSA JA )
FRONEMAN AJA )
[1]Section 34(1) provides:
(1)
The rights acquired by registration of a trade mark shall be infringed by
—
(a) the unauthorized use in the course of trade in relation to goods
or services in respect of which the trade mark is registered,
of an identical
mark or of a mark so nearly resembling it as to be likely to deceive or cause
confusion;
(b) the unauthorized use of a mark which is identical or similar
to the trade mark registered, in the course of trade in relation
to goods or
services which are so similar to the goods or services in respect of which the
trade mark is registered, that in such
use there exists the likelihood of
deception or confusion;
(c) the unauthorized use in the course of trade in relation to any goods or
services of a mark which is identical or similar to a
trade mark registered, if
such trade mark is well known in the Republic and the use of the said mark would
be likely to take unfair
advantage of, or be detrimental to, the distinctive
character or the repute of the registered trade mark, notwithstanding the
absence
of confusion or deception: Provided that the provisions of this
paragraph shall not apply to a trade mark referred to in section
70
(2).
[2]Section 27, which is titled
“Removal from register on ground of non-use”, reads in part:
(1)
Subject to the provisions of section 70 (2), a registered trade mark may, on
application to the court, or, at the option of the
applicant and subject to the
provisions of section 59 and in the prescribed manner, to the registrar by any
interested person, be
removed from the register in respect of any of the goods
or services in respect of which it is registered, on the ground either —
(a) that the trade mark was registered without any bona fide intention on
the part of the applicant for registration that it should
be used in relation to
those goods or services by him or any person permitted to use the trade mark as
contemplated by section 38,
and that there has in fact been no bona fide use of
the trade mark in relation to those goods or services by any proprietor thereof
or any person so permitted for the time being up to the date three months before
the date of the application;
(b) that up to the date three months before the
date of the application, a continuous period of five years or longer has elapsed
from
the date of issue of the certificate of registration during which the trade
mark was registered and during which there was no bona
fide use thereof in
relation to those goods or services by any proprietor thereof or any person
permitted to use the trade mark as
contemplated in section 38 during the period
concerned; or
(c) subject to such notice as the court or the registrar, as
the case may be, shall direct, and subject to the provisions of the regulations,
that, in the case of a trade mark registered in the name of a body corporate, or
in the name of a natural person, such body corporate
was dissolved, or such
natural person died, not less than two years prior to the date of the
application and that no application
for registration of an assignment of such
trade mark has been made in terms of section 40.
(Act 38 of 1997 amended s 27(1) in a manner not material to the proceedings.)
[3]1963 (2) SA 10
(T).
[4]Rembrandt Fabrikante en
Handelaars (Edms) Bpk v Gulf Oil Corporation 1963 (3) SA 341
(A).
[5]1963 (3) SA at
351E-F.
[6] 1997 (1) SA 1 (A) 29-30
(EM Grosskopf JA).
[7]Section 36
protects as against the proprietor of a registered trade mark, or a trade mark
entitled to protection under the Paris Convention
of 1883 as a well-known trade
mark, the vested rights of certain persons who have made “continuous and
bona fide use”
of the trade mark from certain
dates.
[8]1997 (1) SA at
30C-D.
[9]1963 (2) SA at
27G-H.
[10]1963 (2) SA at
25E-F.
[11] 1963 (3) SA 341 (A)
351C-F.
[12]Section 1 of the Act
defines “trade mark” so far as presently relevant as a mark used or
proposed to be used “in
relation to goods or services for the purpose of
distinguishing the goods or services in relation to which the mark is used or
proposed
to be used from the same kind of goods or services connected in the
course of trade with any other person”. Section 27 likewise
contemplates
bona fide use “in relation to” goods and services. In terms of s
2(3)(a), references in the Act to the
use of a mark “in relation to
goods” are to be construed as references to its use “upon, or in
physical or other
relation to” the goods. For an exposition see Webster
& Page South African Law of Trade Marks 4ed by CE Webster and GE
Morley (1997) par 4.3 page
4-4.
[13] (1954) 71 RPC 23 (CA),
regarding which see Oude Meester Groep Bpk and another v SA Breweries Ltd
1973 (4) SA 145 (W) 151B-D, referred to with approval in the
McDonald’s decision 1997 (1) SA at 30B-C.
[14] 1963 (2) SA 10 (T)
24D-E.
[15]1963 (2) SA at 23F-G
(“user” entails continued use, exercise or enjoyment of a right).
Nothing in the present matter
turns on the aspect of
continuity.
[16]Imperial Group
Ltd v Philip Morris Ltd [1982] FSR 72 (CA) 84 (Shaw
LJ).
[17][1990] FSR 49
(ChD).
[18][2000] FSR 734 (ChD)
738.
[19] [1995] FSR 850 (ChD) 864
(application for summary
judgment).
[20]13 ed (2001) by D
Kitchin and others, par 9-72(1), page 288.
[21]McDonald’s
Corporation v Joburgers Drive-Inn Restaurant (Pty) Ltd and another 1997 (1)
SA 1 (A) 31H-32C.
[22]Webster
& Page South African Law of Trade Marks 4ed by CE Webster and GE
Morley (1997) par par 13.32 page
13-36.
[23]Distillers
Corporation (SA) Ltd v SA Breweries Ltd and another 1976 (3) SA 514 (A)
542-3.