3.1 Seeking a Letter of Consent or Negotiating a Co-existence Agreement

Where a section 25 objection has been raised against an application, section 26(a) of the Act provides that the objection may be overcome if the owner of the cited trade mark consents to the registration of the trade mark applied for.

Where an applicant states in its request for extension of time that it has sought and is awaiting a letter of consent, or is still in negotiations with the owner of a cited mark, IPONZ will generally accept this as a persuasive reason for exercising the Commissioner’s discretion to grant an initial extension of time. Subsequent requests for extension of time that cite this reason should be accompanied by supporting documentation. The Commissioner will consider the supporting documentation, in combination with the progression of the application up to that point, when determining whether it is appropriate to grant the extension.