Argenta Limited v Argenta Discovery 2009 Limited

Argenta Limited (the Applicant) sought to register a trade mark, application number 1537931. Argenta Discovery 2009 Limited (the Opponent) opposed this application. The decision was made by Iain Campbell Thompson.

The central legal issue before the Registrar was whether to register the Applicant's trade mark, having regard to the grounds of opposition raised by the Opponent and the extent to which those grounds were established. This required the Registrar to consider subsection 55(1) of the relevant Act, which outlines the Registrar's obligations upon deciding an opposition.

The Registrar reasoned that the Opponent had successfully established its opposition. Consequently, pursuant to subsection 55(1)(a) of the Act, the Registrar refused to register the trade mark. As the Opponent was successful in its opposition, it was awarded costs against the Applicant, to be assessed on the Official Scale.