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5 Examination after advice from commitee
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5.1 Offensiveness under section 17 of the Act
Section 17(1)(b)(ii) of the Act makes specific reference to the need to consider whether the use or registration of a mark would be likely to offend Māori.
Where the Māori Trade Marks Advisory Committee advises that the application contains matter that is offensive or, likely to be offensive to Māori, IPONZ will raise a concern that the mark is not registrable under section 17(1)(b)(ii) of the Act. For more information please see Absolute Grounds General.
5.2 Distinctiveness under section 18 of the Act
Where the Māori Trade Marks Advisory Committee advises that the application does not contain matter that is offensive or, likely to be offensive to Māori, the mark will be examined for its distinctiveness under the same guidelines for distinctiveness under section 18 of the Act.
The fact that a word, of any other language, is recognised as a Māori word in New Zealand, will mean that it will be treated as such. For example, “amaru” in Japanese means “to remain, to be left over, to be in excess”, however, in Māori “amaru” is defined as “dignified”.
The same applies to imagery. For example, the fact that a spiral, whether it is a koru or a Greek spiral design, is recognised as a Māori sign in New Zealand, will mean that it will be treated as such.
Where the trade mark is or consists of an abbreviation that forms a word that is identifiably Māori, the abbreviation is to be considered to be a Māori word and examined accordingly.
5.3 Notification of non-compliance
When the Māori Trade Marks Advisory Committee has advised IPONZ on a Māori sign, the applicant will be sent a Compliance Report explaining whether or not the application complies with section 17 or section 18 of the Act and will invite the applicant to respond.
The Compliance Report will give the applicant a time limit in which it must respond or amend its application. The time limit must be not less than 12 months from the date this Compliance Report was sent out.2
For more information on the time limits and the application process, see the Guidelines to The Application Process.
Footnote
2 See regulation 61 of the Trade Marks Regulations 2003.
