Grew Holdings Pty Ltd v Adriano Goldschmied LLC

Grew Holdings Pty Ltd (the Applicant) sought to register a trade mark, and Adriano Goldschmied LLC (the Opponent) opposed this application. The dispute concerned whether the Opponent had established grounds for opposing the registration of the Applicant's trade mark. The decision was made by Iain Campbell Thompson, a Hearing Officer in the Trade Marks Hearings.

The primary legal issue before the court was to determine whether the Opponent had established any of the grounds on which it opposed the Applicant's trade mark application, as contemplated by section 55(1) of the relevant Act. This required an assessment of the evidence presented by both parties regarding the use and ownership of trade marks.

The Hearing Officer found that the Opponent had not established any grounds for opposition. The evidence indicated that while the Opponent owned registered trade marks, its public use of the Opponent's Logo Trade Mark had diminished significantly since around 2004. Use of plain printed words like 'AG Arthur Galan' or 'Arthur Galan AG' was sparse, and other instances of 'AG' or 'AG Clothing' appeared in contexts that did not clearly demonstrate trade mark use by the Opponent, but rather as abbreviations or references by others.

Consequently, the Hearing Officer decided to refuse the Opponent's opposition, allowing the Applicant's trade mark application to proceed to registration, subject to potential appeal. The Hearing Officer also awarded costs against the Opponent, as it was the unsuccessful party.