Two recent decisions of the Federal Court have given effect to
an oral license of a trademark.
Licenses under the Trademarks Act
Section 50 of the Trademarks Act provides that if an entity is
licensed by the owner of a trademark to use the trademark and the
owner has, under the license, direct or indirect control of the
character or the quality of the wares/services then the use
advertisement or display of the trademark by the licensee is deemed
to have the same effect as use by the owner of the trademark.
The section is frequently utilized to help maintain the
distinctiveness of the licensed trademark but care needs to be
taken to make sure that licensing is done correctly. A recent case
sheds some light on the workings of the section.
