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Trade Marks Act 2002

Legal proceedings - Criminal proceedings - Offences and penalties

121: Offence to falsely apply registered trade mark to goods or services

You could also call this:

"It's against the law to use someone else's trade mark without permission"

You break the law if you put a registered trade mark on goods or services when you shouldn't. This is called falsely applying a trade mark.

You falsely apply a trade mark if you use it, or something that looks like it, without the owner's permission. You must know you're doing this. For goods, you must also know they're not the real products of the trade mark's owner or someone they've allowed to use it.

A trade mark can be applied to goods or services in different ways. It can be used in signs, ads (even on TV), invoices, wine lists, catalogues, business letters, price lists, or other business documents. If someone orders goods or services using the trade mark from these places, and you deliver them, that counts as applying the trade mark.

A sign can be applied to goods by putting it on the goods themselves, or on their packaging, labels, or anything they're sold or stored in. It also counts if the sign is used in a way that might make people think it's talking about the goods or services.

When we talk about packaging, we mean things like stoppers, glasses, bottles, boxes, wrappers, and more. Labels include bands or tickets too.

This text is automatically generated. It might be out of date or be missing some parts. Find out more about how we do this.

This page was last updated on

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM165025.

Topics:
Business > Intellectual propertyRights and equality > Privacy
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120: Offence to counterfeit registered trade mark, or

"It's against the law to make fake copies of registered trade marks"

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122: Offence to make object for making copies of registered trade mark, etc, or

"It's against the law to make things that copy trade marks"

Part 4Legal proceedings
Criminal proceedings: Offences and penalties

121Offence to falsely apply registered trade mark to goods or services

  1. Every person commits an offence who falsely applies a registered trade mark to goods or services.

  2. For the purposes of this section and section 124, a person falsely applies a registered trade mark to goods or services if,—

  3. without the consent of the owner of the registered trade mark, the person knowingly applies the trade mark or a sign that the person knows is likely to be mistaken for that trade mark to the goods or services; and
    1. in the case of an application to goods, the person knows the goods are not the genuine goods of the owner or licensee of the registered trade mark.

      1. For the purposes of this section and section 124, a trade mark is applied to goods or services if—

      2. the trade mark is used in a sign or an advertisement including a televised advertisement or an invoice, wine list, catalogue, business letter, business paper, price list, or other commercial document; and
        1. the goods are delivered, or services provided, as the case may be, to a person in accordance with a request or order made by reference to the trade mark as so used.

          1. For the purposes of this section and section 124, a sign is applied to goods or services if the sign—

          2. is applied to the goods themselves; or
            1. is applied to a covering, label, reel, or thing in or with which the goods are sold or exposed or had in possession for a purpose of trade or manufacture; or
              1. is used in a manner likely to lead a person to believe that it refers to, describes, or designates the goods or services.

                1. For the purposes of subsection (4)(b),—

                  covering includes a stopper, glass, bottle, vessel, box, capsule, case, frame, or wrapper

                    label includes a band or ticket.