The IPONZ Hearings Office has recently updated the following guidelines on proceedings under the Trade Marks Act 2002:

Update to Pre-Hearing Directions

The Hearings Office has updated its Trade Marks “Pre-Hearing Directions” to provide clarity around the applicable deadlines and filing requirements that parties must adhere to when filing their written submissions, common bundle of documents, and bundle of authorities in advance of a hearing.

Notably, parties to proceedings will now be required to provide the Office with a hard copy of their hearing documents in advance of the hearing date. The updates also provide guidance on the maximum length of written submissions for hearings, and the general form that documents need to be in.

View the updated Pre-Hearing Directions for Trade Marks.

Update to Evidence Guidelines

Some parties to proceedings have been observed to file large volumes of irrelevant or unnecessary evidence. This adds unnecessary costs to proceedings for the parties, and takes up a disproportionate share of the Hearings Office’s resources.

The Hearings Office has therefore updated its Trade Marks “Evidence Guidelines” to include guidance on the maximum amount of evidence that should be filed by parties in Trade Marks proceedings.

View the updated Evidence Guidelines for Trade Marks.