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Trade Marks Act 2002

Administrative provisions and miscellaneous - Register of trade marks - Offences relating to register

186: Offences relating to false representation of trade mark

You could also call this:

“Lying about trade marks is against the law”

You should know about the rules for saying false things about trade marks. It’s against the law to say something is a registered trade mark when it isn’t. You can’t say a trade mark is registered for certain goods or services if it’s not. Also, you can’t claim that registering a trade mark gives you the only right to use it when that’s not true.

If you break these rules, you might have to pay a fine of up to $1,000.

When people talk about trade marks being “registered”, they mean registered under the Trade Marks Act 2002 in New Zealand. The same goes for “registration” - it means being listed in the official trade mark register.

But if someone is talking about trade marks registered in other countries, these rules don’t apply to those.

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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=DLM165229.

Topics:
Business > Intellectual property Money and consumer rights > Consumer protection
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185: Offence to make false entry in register, or

"It's against the law to make fake entries in the register or use them as proof"

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187: No compensation for diminution in rights attaching to trade mark, or

"You can't get money if the new law makes your trade mark less valuable"

Part 5 Administrative provisions and miscellaneous
Register of trade marks: Offences relating to register

186Offences relating to false representation of trade mark

  1. Every person commits an offence who represents that—

  2. a sign, or the whole or a part of a trade mark, is a registered trade mark when it is not:
    1. a registered trade mark is registered in respect of any goods or services when it is not:
      1. the registration of a trade mark gives an exclusive right to its use when it does not.

        1. Every person who is convicted of an offence against subsection (1) is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $1,000.

        2. For the purposes of this section, a reference to—

        3. registered is to be read as a reference to registered under this Act:
          1. registration is to be read as a reference to registration in the register.

            1. Subsection (3) does not apply if the relevant reference relates to the registration of a trade mark under the law in force in a country outside New Zealand.