Trade Marks Act 2002

Preliminary

7: Meaning of use of trade mark

You could also call this:

"What counts as using a trade mark in this law"

When someone talks about using a trade mark in this law, they mean a few different things. You can use a trade mark even if you change it a bit, as long as it still looks mostly the same. You can also put the trade mark on things you're going to send to other countries. If you put the trade mark on stuff in New Zealand that you're going to sell in other countries, that counts as using it too. The owner of the trade mark can use it, and if the owner is a group, the members of that group can use it as well.

Sometimes, the owner might let someone else use their trade mark. If the owner says it's okay and keeps an eye on how it's used, that still counts as the owner using it.

If you have a trade mark that's made up of different parts, and you use the whole thing, that means you're also using all the smaller parts of it.

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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=DLM164441.

Topics:

Business > Intellectual propertyMāori affairs > Te reo Māori

6: Meaning of use of sign, or

"What counts as using a sign for goods or services"

7A: Transitional, savings, and related provisions, or

"Rules for dealing with changes in the law"

Part 1Preliminary

7Meaning of use of trade mark

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, use, in relation to a trade mark, includes—
use in a form differing in elements that do not alter the distinctive character of the trade mark in the form in which it was registered; and
applying the trade mark to goods or services or to materials for the labelling or packaging of goods or services in New Zealand solely for export purposes; and
the application in New Zealand of a trade mark to goods or services to be exported from New Zealand, and any other act done in New Zealand in relation to those goods or services that, if done in relation to goods or services to be sold or otherwise traded in New Zealand, would constitute use of a trade mark in relation to those goods or services for which the use is material under this Act or at common law; and
the use of the trade mark by—
1. the owner; or
2. if the owner is a collective association, a member of the collective association.

References in this Act to use of a trade mark by the owner includes use by a person other than the owner if that use is authorised by, and subject to, the control of the owner.
The use of the whole of a registered trade mark is also a use of any registered component part of a trade mark registered in the name of the same owner.