We have successfully assisted South Island icon Tuatapere Sausages Limited in having their trade ma...
IPONZ (Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand) had initially advised that it did not consider TUATAPERE SAUSAGES to be registrable because it was descriptive only and therefore lacked distinctiveness. This is usual IPONZ practice when applications are received where the proposed trade mark appears to simply describe the geographic origin of the goods (in our case, sausages made in Tuatapere).
It then fell to us to convince IPONZ that TUATAPERE SAUSAGES had acquired distinctiveness through use. Fortunately, this was not a problem. A quick look at “The Hole in the Bush – A Tuatapere Centennial Review” confirmed that our client’s reputation for sausages began as long ago as 1971. In 1988 the business won a Southland competition for “best sausage”, and they never looked back. So important is our client’s business to the identity of Tuatapere, that their phone number is listed on the town’s business directory top 10 important numbers – right up there with the Police, Fire and Ambulance!
The registration of TUATAPERE SAUSAGES will operate to prevent other parties from piggybacking off the success of our client by misappropriating the name. Is your business protected?
