Mr. lain Millsasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when he plans to allow the Patent Office Trade Marks Registry to accept applications for registration of service trade marks under the Trade Marks (Amendment) Act 1984.
§ Mr. PattieIt is the Government's intention to implement the Trade Marks (Amendment) Act 1984 one year early, namely on 1 October 1986, but this is contingent on the passage of the Patents, Designs and Marks Bill. Under the commencement provisions of that Bill, an application for registration of a service mark which is received before the date on which the 1984 Act comes into force will, while having no legal status before that date, become a valid application on that date. It is not possible to give a precise indication at this stage of how long before that date the Trade Marks Registry will be able to accept such applications, but it should be several weeks and will I hope be at least two months.