Omega SA (Omega SA) (Omega Ltd) v Mark Robinson and Brenda Robinson

This matter came before Bianca Irgang, Hearing Officer, concerning an application by Omega SA for an extension of time to serve statutory declarations in support of its opposition to trade mark applications by Mark and Brenda Robinson. The dispute centred on whether the statutory declarations, filed on 28 June 2010 and 5 July 2010, had been served and filed within the allowed time, or if an extension was warranted.

The primary legal issue was whether to grant Omega SA's fourth application for an extension of time to serve its evidence in support of its opposition. This required the Hearing Officer to consider the provisions of Regulations 5.7 and 5.15 of the relevant legislation, which govern the service and filing of evidence in opposition proceedings and the granting of extensions of time. The Hearing Officer also had to assess the application against the published benchmarks set by IP Australia for the preparation of evidence, and determine if "compelling reasons" existed for an extension beyond these benchmarks.

The Hearing Officer noted that the statutory declarations were due on 22 and 19 August 2009, and that a full twelve months had elapsed since that time, meaning Omega SA had already been afforded 12 months to prepare its evidence. The latest application, if granted, would extend this period to 15 months, exceeding the benchmark of nine months for evidence in support, and approaching the twelve-month limit beyond which compelling reasons are required. While Omega SA indicated that its evidence preparation was well-advanced and no further extensions would be needed, the Hearing Officer found that the evidence had not been filed or served even after the latest extension dates had passed. The Hearing Officer was not satisfied that, in the circumstances, it was appropriate to grant the extensions.

Consequently, the Hearing Officer refused the applications for extensions of time to serve evidence in support of trade mark numbers 1234736 and 1252449 until 22 August 2010 and 19 August 2010 respectively.