My rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has responsibility for intellectual property and regularly receives a wide range of representations about rights across the intellectual property spectrum.<\/p>
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In the case of a trade mark application for a band name, the application would be examined in accordance with the Trade Mark Act 1994 and the Trade Mark Rules 2008. Any trade mark applications including the name of a famous individual or group would be considered in line with Section 3(6) of the Trade Marks Act 1994, which states that a trade mark shall not be registered if or to the extent that the application is made in bad faith. Anyone can oppose the registration of a trade mark once it has been published after examination through the Intellectual Property Office\u2019s low-cost tribunal service. The government also provides a specialised Intellectual Property Enterprise Court to provide access to justice at an affordable cost for SMEs and entrepreneurs. This court has streamlined procedures, a limit on legal costs and a cap on damages. It also includes a specific small claims track for disputes up to the value of £10,000.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4021", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Chris Skidmore"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Kingswood"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Chris Skidmore"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2019-06-19", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2019-06-19T11:20:58.093Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "201"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2019-06-14", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Musicians: Intellectual Property"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent representations he has received on protecting musical groups from having their names registered by third parties for intellectual property purposes without permission.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/1400", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Kevin Brennan"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Cardiff West"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Kevin Brennan"} ], "uin" : "264735"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1137613", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1137613/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
As referenced in the answer to Question 264735, where an application is made to register a trade mark, the application is examined in accordance with the Trade Mark Act 1994 and Rules 2008.<\/p>
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For trade mark applications that consist of the name of a well-known band, the examiner will consider the application based on the facts of the application before them and Section 3(6) of the Trade Marks Act 1994 will be considered. Section 3(6) of the Act states that a trade mark shall not be registered if or to the extent that the application has been made in bad faith. In addition to this, every trade mark application is published, before it is registered, for an opposition period of up to three months.<\/strong> During this period, anyone can oppose the registration of a trade mark including where a third party believes that an application has been filed in bad faith - where, for example, facts not visible or apparent to the examiner are known by that third party. This opposition procedure provides a robust mechanism for all parties to submit detailed submissions and evidence.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4021", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Chris Skidmore"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Kingswood"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Chris Skidmore"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2019-07-11", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2019-07-11T13:03:13.757Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "201"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2019-07-08", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Musicians: Intellectual Property"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 19 June 2019 to Question 264735 on Musicians: Intellectual Property, what steps the Intellectual Property Office take to verify that an individual who claims the rights to a well-known band name is entitled to do so, prior to its registration under the Trade Marks Act 1994.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/1400", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Kevin Brennan"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Cardiff West"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Kevin Brennan"} ], "uin" : "274455"} ], "itemsPerPage" : 10, "page" : 0, "startIndex" : 1, "totalResults" : 2, "type" : "http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#Page"} }