Amendment No. 17 in the name of Deputy McDowell should have been discussed with amendment No. 3, but in view of the fact that we have passed that I will take the amendment separately.
SECTION 43.
I move amendment No. 17:
In page 27, between lines 8 and 9, to insert the following subsection:
"(5) The date of publication of the registration shall appear on the Register and on the certificate of registration issued in accordance with subsection (4) of this section.".
This has been the subject matter of a submission to the Minister and I do not intend to repeat the argument. The purpose of the proposed amendment is to provide that the date of publication of the registration shall appear on the register and on the certificate of registration and in accordance with subsection (4) of this section. The amendment to section 2 (3) was that the "date of publication of the registration" shall be deemed for all purposes under this Act to be the date of completion of the registration procedure.
The arguments have been rehearsed in writing to the Minister and I would be interested to hear his comments on such a provision.
It is accepted that given the significance that is accorded in the Bill to the date of publication of the registration of a trade mark that date should in future be made available as a matter of course. It can be agreed therefore that, as proposed by the Deputy, the date should be entered on the register of trade marks. However, the second part of the amendment, that the date should be entered also on the certificate of registration, would impose a considerable administrative burden on the Patents Office. What is necessary is that the date in question should be readily ascertainable by the public and that can best be achieved by an entry in the register. Essentially, I am disposed towards accepting one part of the Deputy's amendment but not the second part.
If that is the case, rather than have me propose a variant of the amendment on Report Stage, perhaps the Minister would indicate if he will bring forward an amendment to implement that portion of this amendment, and if so, I will be happy to withdraw this amendment.
I so indicate.
Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
Section 43 agreed to.
Sections 44 to 62, inclusive, agreed to.
SECTION 63.
I move amendment No. 18:
In page 35, subsection (1), line 30, after "country" to insert "and the application is made without the proprietor's authorisation".
This amendment seeks to clarify the section. Section 63 (1) states that the following provisions apply where an application for registration of a trade mark is made by a person who is an agent or representative of a person who is the proprietor of the mark in a convention country. The amendment seeks to insert "and the application is made without the proprietor's authorisation". The intention of the amendment is to make clear that this provision deals with the situation where an agent is acting without the approval of the proprietor. It is purely for clarification.
Amendment agreed to.
Section 63, as amended, agreed to.