An issue that comes up quite often in trade mark law is this:
can the owner of a trade mark registration stop someone else from
using their own name to identify their product or business? The
Trade Marks Act says that a trade mark registration is not
infringed if a person or corporation (company or cc) makes genuine
use of their own name. The Act also says that, in the case of a
corporation, the defence only applies where the corporation was
registered before the trade mark was registered. Case law tell us
that, irrespective of whether you are an individual or a
corporation, you must use your full name, although in the case of a
corporation you can drop the (Pty) Ltd or cc.
The Trade Marks Act goes on to say that the use must be
'consistent with fair practice'. But what does that
mean? Well, it's always been assumed that this probably
means that it's OK to use your own name if you didn't know
about the earlier trade mark and you haven't deliberately
sought to cause
