asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce whether in view of the interpretation of the Controller of the Industrial and Commercial Property Registration Office on the relevant section of the Industrial and Commercial Property (Protection) Act, 1927, in respect of the claim of the Falkirk Iron Company, Ltd., Sterlingshire, to registration of their trade mark "Falco," he will introduce proposals for legislation amending the aforesaid section whereby all applicants for registration of such trade marks shall be required to furnish a statement specifying goods or articles on which the trade mark is at present used, or is definitely intended to be used.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Amendment of Industrial and Commercial Property Act.
The answer is in the negative. Trade marks registered under Section 89 of the Act will be liable to removal from the register on the ground of non-user, in like manner as trade marks first registered in Saorstát Eireann, and I do not consider there is any sufficient reason for differentiating between them. It would not be desirable to impose on the Controller of Industrial and Commercial Property the judicial function, exercisable under the existing law by the Courts, of determining questions of future user, particularly since the material before the Controller would merely be the application for registration of the trade mark. When such an issue comes before the Courts it is on the application of an aggrieved person, and all interested parties are fully heard before a decision is given.