Successful Trade Mark Registration: Indefeasibility Of Title?

Upon obtaining the trade mark registration certificate, does the registrant own the registration forever, provided it is renewed every 10 years?

Unfortunately, the answer is: Not necessarily. The success in obtaining the trade mark registration certificate neither includes a guarantee of perpetual ownership nor indefeasibility of title. The validity of the registration is but a rebuttable presumption and even a properly registered trade mark can be removed by a third party.¹

There are several ways a trade mark registration may be challenged and removed from the Register of Trade Marks.

Registration without sufficient cause or wrongfully remaining in the Register

On an application by a "person aggrieved", the court may remove or vary any trade mark registration on the grounds that the registration is without sufficient cause or wrongful, erroneous or defective.²