Readers may recall that at the time of our last article of 27 November 2008, progress of the Bill was uncertain due to the General Election and change of Government. Now that Parliament is sitting again progress of the Bill has resumed. On 8 April 2009 the Minister of Commerce Hon. Simon Power announced that it passed its first reading and has been referred to the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Select Committee. The final date for public submissions will be announced in the next few weeks.
Along with amending the Trade Marks Act 2002 to allow New Zealand to join several international trade mark treaties, one of the primary purposes of the Bill is to add provisions to both the Trade Marks Act and the Copyright Act in an attempt to combat the growing problem of counterfeiting. Some of the more significant amendments include:
- Granting Customs and the National Enforcement Unit of the Ministry of Economic Development increased powers for enforcing the criminal offences contained in the current copyright and trade mark legislation.
- Allowing New Zealand to join the Madrid Protocol, the Nice Agreement, and the Singapore Treaty.
- Enabling any authorised user of a trade mark to instigate infringement proceedings, subject to the terms of their authorisation.
We will provide readers with an update once the closing date for submissions to the Select Committee is known. For further information see our earlier article Combating counterfeits.