(arranged in reverse chronological order of changes made)

Date of change Changes
10 December 2010 The chapter on “Evidence” has been revised: the section on “Content of statutory declaration or affidavit” has been revised and the section on “Striking out evidence” has been deleted to remove superfluous wording.
3 December 2010 The chapter on “Opposition to registration” has been revised to clarify the Registrar’s practice in relation to pre-hearing review.
20 August 2010

The chapter on “Absolute grounds for refusal” has been revised: the section on “Section 11(4)(b) – marks that are likely to deceive” has been revised to provide further details.

The chapter on “Geographical origins” has been revised:

  • the section on “Marks deceptive of geographical origin” has been revised to provide further details; and
  • the section on “Deception” has been renamed as “Suggestion of restricting specification in examination report” (“this section”), the example in the first paragraph under this section has been moved to the section on “Marks deceptive of geographical origin”, and the second paragraph under this section has been deleted.
30 July 2010

The chapter on “Cross search list” has been revised:

  • the cross searching between “advertising” in Class 35 and “broadcasting” in Class 38 has been deleted;
  • the cross searching between “advertising” in Class 35 and “production of films, radio/television/cable television programmes and motion pictures” in Class 41 has been deleted; and
  • the cross searching between “providing access to the Internet, providing Internet chatrooms, rental of access time to global computer networks, providing access to database” in Class 38 and “operating chat rooms” (cite only marks filed before 1.1.2007) in Class 41 has been added.
18 June 2010 The chapter on “Registrability of surnames, personal names, signatures and images of individuals” has been revised: The chapter has been renamed as “Names, signatures and images of individuals; fictitious character, titles of books, films and songs”; the section on “Fictitious character” has been renamed as “Fictitious character, titles of books, films and songs” and revised to provide further details; and the section on “Name of author” has been deleted.
11 June 2010 Chapter on “Foreign words, letters or characters” has been issued.
14 May 2010 The chapter on “Time limits in the examination process” has been revised to add a footnote on p. 4 to elaborate some of the reasons for requests for extension of time under Rule 13(6) of the Trade Marks Rules which in the view of the Registrar of Trade Marks would not constitute exceptional circumstances.
23 April 2010 Chapter on “Pattern marks” has been issued.
23 April 2010 The chapter on “Absolute grounds for refusal” has been revised: The section on “Section 11(2)-acquired distinctiveness” has been renamed as “Section 11(2)-acquired distinctiveness through use”.
12 March 2010 The chapter on “Relative grounds for refusal” has been revised to clarify that section 12(4) should be interpreted as covering also situations where the goods or services applied for are identical with or similar to those covered by the earlier trade mark.
19 February 2010 The chapter on “Consent, honest concurrent use and other special circumstances” has been revised by updating the factors to be considered when examining honest concurrent use and to incorporate for applicants’ reference a checklist for preparing evidence of use.
12 February 2010 The chapter on “Variation and rectification of registration” has been amended (see Rule 49(3) and Rule 16(3) of the section on “Outline of procedure when the owner applies to vary or to rectify a registered trade mark” on p.3-4): the word “opposition” is used to replace “objection”.
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