Trade Marks Act 2002

Legal proceedings - Civil proceedings for infringement - When infringement proceedings may be brought

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If you own a registered trade mark, you can take legal action if someone uses it without your permission. You can do this in two situations:

If you applied for your trade mark under a special rule called section 36, you can take action for any misuse that happened on or after the day you applied to register your trade mark in New Zealand.
For all other registered trade marks, you can take action for any misuse that happened on or after the day your trade mark is considered to be registered.

This means you can't take legal action for things that happened before these dates, even if your trade mark is registered now.

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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=DLM164697.

Topics:

99: No proceedings for infringement of unregistered trade mark, or

"You can't sue someone for using a trade mark that isn't officially registered"

101: Who may apply for relief for infringement of registered trade mark, or

"Who can ask for help if someone uses their trade mark without permission"

The owner of a registered trade mark may bring proceedings for infringement of the registered trade mark if,—
in the case of a registered trade mark the application for registration of which has priority under section 36, the infringement occurred on or after the date of application in New Zealand for registration of the trade mark; or
in the case of every other registered trade mark, the infringement occurred on or after the deemed date of registration of the trade mark.