Tribunal practice notice (3/2016): The use of statements of case with notices of opposition and applications for invalidity
Published 6 December 2016
© Crown copyright 2016
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tribunal-practice-notice-32016-the-use-of-statements-of-case/tribunal-practice-notice-32016-the-use-of-statements-of-case-with-notices-of-opposition-and-applications-for-invalidity
1. What?
This notice introduces a new practice when submitting a statement of case with forms TM7 ‘Notice of opposition and statement of grounds’, TM7F ‘Notice of fast track opposition and statement of grounds’, or TM26(I) ‘Application to declare invalid a registration or a protected international trade mark (UK)’.
2. Why?
There has been a growing increase in the number of cases where parties, when completing the form(s), are not answering the questions by inserting the information required in the box(es) provided. Instead, the registrar is being referred to the statement of case. It is often difficult, especially when the paragraphs have not been numbered, to clearly identify where the relevant information appears within the statement of case. This can lead to additional work and costs for the registrar and the parties.
3. Required behaviour
If a party decides to file a statement of case with a notice of opposition or application for invalidity, it must have numbered paragraphs. In addition, the registrar will no longer accept the term ‘Please see attached statement of case’ on the opposition/invalidation forms. If a filer chooses not to answer the questions on the form in the space provided, but instead refers to a separate statement of case, it must insert the paragraph number(s) being relied upon to answer each question.
4. When?
This notice will come into effect with any notice of opposition/application for invalidity filed on or after 3 January 2017.
5. Consequences of non-compliance
If a party does not comply with this practice notice, the form and/or statement of case will be returned for amendment.
Raoul Colombo
Trade Marks and Designs Tribunal