Hearst Communications, Inc. v Bazaar International Holdings Limited

Hearst Communications, Inc. (the Applicant) sought to register trade mark application 1494782, and Bazaar International Holdings Limited (the Opponent) opposed this application. The decision was made by Debrett Lyons.

The central legal issue before the court was whether the Applicant's trade mark application should be registered, having regard to the grounds on which the opposition was based. This required the court to determine the extent to which those grounds of opposition had been established.

The court applied subsection 55(1) of the Act, which mandates the Registrar to decide whether to refuse or register a trade mark based on the established grounds of opposition. In this instance, the court found that the Opponent had successfully established its opposition to the registration of the trade mark application. Consequently, the court refused to register application 1494782. The Opponent was awarded its costs against the Applicant.