Section 33 Trade Marks Act 1967

Section 33 of the Trade Marks Act 1967 is about Registered users. It is under ‘Use and non-use’ of the Act. It provides as follows:

(1) Subject to the provisions of this and the next following section, a person other
than the proprietor of a trade mark may be registered as a registered user thereof in respect of all or any of the goods in respect of which it is registered (otherwise than as a defensive trade mark) and either with or without conditions or restrictions.

(2) The use of a trade mark by a registered user thereof in relation to goods-
(a) with which he is connected in the course of trade; and
(b) in respect of which for the time being the trade mark remains registered and he
is registered as a registered user, is in this Act referred to as “the permitted use” of that trade mark:

Provided that where the registration of a person as a registered user is subject to
any conditions or restrictions, “the permitted use” in his case does not include any use which does not comply with those conditions or restrictions.

(3) For the purposes of section 31 of this Act and for any other purpose for which the
use of a trade mark is material under this Act or at common law, the permitted use of a trade mark shall be deemed –
(a) to be use by the proprietor thereof; and
(b) not to be use by a person other than the proprietor.

(4) Subject to any agreement subsisting between the parties, a registered user of a
trade mark shall be entitled to call upon the proprietor thereof to take proceedings to prevent infringement thereof, and, if the proprietor refuses or neglects to do so within two months after being so called upon, the registered user may institute proceedings for infringement in his own name as if he were the proprietor, making the proprietor a defendant:

Provided that a proprietor so added as defendant shall not be liable for any costs
unless he enters an appearance and takes part in the proceedings.

(5) Nothing in this section shall confer on a registered user of a trade mark any assignable or transmissible right to the use thereof.

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