Trade Marks Act, 1993 (Act No. 194 of 1993) Part I : Introduction 2. Definitions

 

 

"agent"

means any person whose name has been entered in the register referred to in section 8(2), or a patent agent or an attorney;

 

"assignment"

means assignment by act of the parties concerned, and "assign" or "assignable" has a corresponding meaning;

 

"certification trade mark"

means a mark registered or deemed to have been registered under section 42;

 

"collective trade mark"

means a mark registered under section 43;

 

"convention country"

means any country or group of countries in respect of which there is in force a proclamation under section 63 declaring such country or group of countries to be a convention country or convention countries for the purposes of this Act;

 

"court"

means the Transvaal Provincial Division of the Supreme Court of South Africa, but in relation to any claim or counterclaim for removal, amendment or variation of, or other relief affecting any entry in, the register arising from or forming part of proceedings instituted in any other division of the said Supreme Court having jurisdiction in relation to the proceedings, includes that division in respect of such claim or counterclaim;

 

"deed of security"

means a written instrument signed by the proprietor of a registered trade mark hypothecating the registered trade mark;

 

"device"

means any visual representation or illustration capable of being reproduced upon a surface, whether by printing, embossing or by any other means;

 

"limitation"

means any limitation of the exclusive right to the use of a trade mark given by the registration thereof, including a limitation of that right as to the mode of use, as to use in relation to goods to be sold, or otherwise traded in, or as to services to be performed, in any place within the Republic, or as to use in relation to goods to be exported from the Republic;

 

"mark"

means any sign capable of being represented graphically, including a device, name, signature, word, letter, numeral, shape, configuration, pattern, ornamentation, colour or container for goods or any combination of the aforementioned;

 

"Minister"

means the Minister of Trade and Industry;

 

"Paris Convention"

means the Paris Convention on the Protection of Industrial Property of 20 March 1883 as revised or amended from time to time and as acceded to by the Republic;

 

"patent agent"

means a patent agent registered or deemed to be registered as such under the Patents Act, 1978 (Act No. 57 of 1978);

 

"prescribed"

means prescribed by regulation;

 

"register"

means the register of trade marks kept at the trade marks office in terms of section 22;

 

"registered trade mark"

means a trade mark registered or deemed to be registered under this Act;

 

"registered user"

means a person who is for the time being registered as such under section 38;

 

"registrar"

means the registrar of trade marks appointed or deemed to have been appointed under section 6;

 

"regulation"

means any regulation made under this Act;

 

"repealed Act"

means the Trade Marks Act, 1963 (Act No. 62 of 1963);

 

"services"

includes the offering for sale or the sale of goods in the retail or wholesale trade;

 

"this Act"

includes the regulations;

 

"trade mark"

other than a certification trade mark or a collective trade mark, means a mark used or proposed to be used by a person in relation to goods or services for the purpose of distinguishing the goods or services in relation to which the mark is used or proposed to be used from the same kind of goods or services connected in the course of trade with any other person;

 

"transmission"

means transfer by operation of law, not being assignment, and "transmit" and "transmissible" have corresponding meanings.