§ Mr. Dorrellasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether he intends to use his power under section 2(2) of the Trade Marks (Amendment) Act 1984 to make an order providing for implementation of the provisions of the Act before 1 October 1987.
§ Mr. ButcherThe date of 1 October 1987 for the implementation of this Act (which provides for registration of service marks) was set in order to give the Trade Marks Registry time to reduce its existing backlog so that the orderly working of the system would not be jeopardised by its extension to cover service marks. I am very pleased to say that despite increasing numbers of applications, the substantially improved productivity of the registry means that we are now aiming to implement the Act one year early.