Trade Marks Act 1994

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Acts of Parliament of predecessor states to the United Kingdom
Acts of English Parliament to 1601 Acts of English Parliament to 1641 Ordinances and Acts (War & Interregnum) to 1660 Acts of English Parliament to 1699 Acts of English Parliament to 1706 Acts of Parliament of Scotland Acts of Irish Parliament to 1700 Acts of Irish Parliament to 1800
Acts of Parliament of the United Kingdom
1707–1719 \| 1720–1739 \| 1740–1759 1760–1779 \| 1780–1800 \| 1801–1819 1820–1839 \| 1840–1859 \| 1860–1879 1880–1899 \| 1900–1919 \| 1920–1939 1940–1959 \| 1960–1979 \| 1980–1999 2000–Present
Acts of the Scottish Parliament
Acts of the Northern Ireland Parliament
Acts of the Northern Ireland Assembly
Measures of the National Assembly for Wales
Orders in Council for Northern Ireland
United Kingdom Statutory Instruments

The Trade Marks Act 1994 is the law governing trademarks within the United Kingdom and the Isle of Man. It implements an earlier EU Directive which forms the framework for the trade mark laws of all EU member states, and replaced an earlier law, the Trade Marks Act 1938. Although the UK's trade mark regime covers the Isle of Man, it does not extend to the Channel Islands which have their own trade mark registers.

The Act provides both civil and criminal law sanctions for the misuse of registered trade marks. Section 93 of the Act makes enforcement of the criminal sanctions the duty of the local Weights and Measures Authority (usually the Trading Standards department) and imports enforcement powers from the Trade Descriptions Act.

Similar criminal law provisions are written into the related Copyright Designs and Patents Act.

The UK Patent Office, which deals with trade mark registration has recently implemented a national intelligence database 'Tellpat' which is available to enforcement officers.