Fiji now has a new Trade Marks Act, to replace its almost 90
year old Trade Marks Act 1933.
The new Fijian Trademarks Act 2021 was
gazetted on Friday 20 August 2021 and should come into force in the
very near future, once the commencement date is announced. There is
no certainty regarding its commencement date, but Trade mark
lawyers will be hoping that it is sooner rather than later.
The new Trademarks Act introduces a raft of welcome updates, not
least of which is its adoption of the Nice Classification of Goods
and Services. Until last week, Fijian trademark law relied
upon an antiquated British system of 50 different good classes
and 10 subclasses.
Conveniently, the Fijian Trademarks Act
2021 is very similar to the New Zealand Trade Marks Act
2002 (and thus also similar to the Singapore Trade Marks Act 1998
and the United Kingdom Trade Marks Act 1994). Of course, as with
each of those countries the devil is in the detail with the new
Fijian Trademarks Act
