Trade Marks Act 2002

Preliminary

4: Overview

You could also call this:

"This law explains what trade marks are and how they work in New Zealand"

This law is about trade marks. It explains what's in different parts of the Trade Marks Act 2002.

The first part of the Act talks about basic things, like what words mean and how the law applies to the government.

The Act tells you what rights you get when you register a trade mark. For example, you get the only right to use that trade mark. You can find this information in section 10.

If you want to know when you can register a trade mark, look at section 13. Sections 14 to 30 give you more information about registering trade marks.

Part 3 of the Act explains how to register a trade mark.

Part 4 tells you what happens if someone uses your registered trade mark without permission. It also talks about what happens if someone brings goods into New Zealand that have a fake trade mark on them. This part also explains about going to court for trade mark issues.

Part 5 is about the person in charge of trade marks (called the Commissioner) and a list of all registered trade marks. It also talks about a group that gives advice about trade marks that use Māori words or pictures, to make sure they're not offensive to Māori people.

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This page was last updated on 13 May 2025

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM164248.

Topics:

Business > Intellectual propertyMāori affairs > Te reo Māori

3: Purposes, or

"This law explains what trade marks are and what the rules about them are for"

5: Interpretation, or

"Explaining important words used in the trade mark law"

Part 1Preliminary

4Overview

In this Act,—
this Part deals with preliminary matters, including interpretation and the application of this Act to the Crown:
the main rights attaching to a registered trade mark (for example, the exclusive right to use the registered trade mark) are set out in section 10:
when a trade mark is registrable is set out in section 13. Other provisions relating to the registrability of trade marks are set out in sections 14 to 30:
the process for registering a trade mark is contained in Part 3:
remedies and offence provisions relating to the infringement of a registered trade mark, border protection measures concerning an infringing sign that is applied to goods in an overseas country, and general provisions about legal proceedings and appeals under this Act, are set out in Part 4:
Part 5 contains provisions about the Commissioner, the register of trade marks, and an advisory committee that has the function of advising the Commissioner whether the proposed registration of a trade mark that is, or appears to be, derivative of a Māori sign, including imagery and text, is offensive to Māori.