Merchandise Marks Act

as to the number, quantity, measure, gauge or weight of any goods;

as to the place or country in which any goods were made or produced;

as to the mode of manufacturing or produc-ing any goods;

as to the material of which any goods are composed;

as to any goods being the subject of an existing patent, privilege or copyright;

as to the degree of fineness of gold and silver goods:

and the use of any figure, word or mark which, according to the custom of the trade, is commonly taken to be an indication of any of the above mat-Interpreta-

tion

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Merchandise Marks ters, shall be deemed to be a trade description within the meaning of this Act;

"false trade description" means a trade description which is false in a material respect as regards the goods to which it is applied, and includes every alteration of a trade description, whether by way of addition, effacement or otherwise, where that alteration makes the description false in a material respect, and the fact that a trade description is a trade mark or part of a trade mark shall not pre-vent such trade description being a false trade de-scription within the meaning of this Act; a trade description which denotes or implies that there are contained in any goods to which it is applied more yards, feet or inches than there are contained therein standard yards, standard feet or standard inches, or more hundredweights, pounds or ounces than there are standard hundredweights, standard pounds or standard ounces or their equivalent met-ric measurements, is a false trade description;

"goods" means anything which is the subject of trade, manufacture or merchandise;

''person", :'manufacturer, dealer or trader" and

"proprietor" include any body of persons corpo-rate or unincorporate;

"name" includes any abbreviation of a name.

counterfeits any property mark used by a public servant, or any mark used by a public servant to denote that-

any property has been manufactured by a par-ticular person or at a particular time or place;

Using a false trade mark

Using a false property mark

Punishment for using a false trade mark or property mark

Counterfeit- , ing a trade

, mark or

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property mark used by another

Counterfeit-inga mark used by a public ser-vant

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What consti-tutes counter-

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feiting a trade mark or property mark. Onus of proof

Making or possession of any instru-ment for counterfeit-ing a trade mark or property mark

Merchandise Marks

uses as genuine any such mark knowing the same to be counterfeit:

shall be guilty of an offence: Penalty, imprisonment for 3

years and fine.

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A person shall be deemed to counterfeit a trade mark or property mark who either -

In any prosecution for counterfeiting a trade mark or property mark the burden of proving the assent of the proprietor shall lie on the defendant.

having taken all reasonable precautions against committing an offence under this section, he had, at the time of the commission of the alleged offence, no reason to .~uspect the genuine-ness of the mark; and

on demand made by or on behalf of the pro-secution, he gave all the information in his power with respect of the persons from whom he obtained such goods or things; or

otherwise he had acted innocently;

be guilty of an offence: Penalty, imprisonment for one year.

The provisions of this Act respecting the applica-tion of a false trade description to goods or respecting goods to which a false trade description is applied shall extend to the application of goods of any such figures, words, or marks, or arrangement or combination thereof, whether in-cluding a trade mark or not, as are reasonably calculated to lead persons to believe that the goods are the manufacture or merchandise of some person other than the person whose manufacture or merchandise they really are, and the said provisions shall also extend to the goods to which such figures, words, or marks, or arrangement or combination thereof are applied.

Merchandise Marks

The provisions of this Act respecting the applica-tion of a false trade description to goods or respecting goods to which a false trade description is applied, shall extend to the application to goods of any false name or initials of a person, and to goods with the false name or initials of a person applied, in like manner as if such name or initials were a trade description, and for the purpose of this Act the expression "false name or initials" means, as applied to any goods, any name or initials of a person which-

A person shall be deemed to apply a trade ~ft~!~!~~~

description to goods who -

scriptions

The expression "covering" includes any stopper, cask, bottle, vessel, box, cover, capsule, case frame or wrapper; and the expression "label" includes any band or ticket.

A trade description shall be deemed to be ap-plied whether it is woven, impressed or otherwise worked into or annexed or affixed to the goods or to any covering, label, reel or other thing.

Goods, delivered in pursuance of a request made by reference to a trade mark or trade description appearing in any sign, advertisement, invoice, wine list, business let-ter, business paper or other commercial communication, shall, for the purposes of paragraph (d) of subsection (1) be deemed to be goods in connexion with which the trade mark or trade description is used .

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having taken all reasonable precaution against committing an offence under this Act, he had, at the time of the commission of the alleged offence, no reason to suspect the genuineness of the trade description; and

on demand made by or on behalf of the pro-secution, he gave all the information in his power with respect to the persons from whom he obtained such goods or things; or

otherwise he had acted innocently;

be guilty of an offence: Penalty on first-conviction, impris-onment for 3 months or a fine of $1,000, and for a second or subsequent conviction imprisonment for one year and fine.

that having taken all reasonable precaution against committing an offence under this Act, he had, at the time of the commission of the alleged offence, no reason to suspect that the real length was not stamped or marked as required by this section; and

that on demand made by or on behalf of the prosecutor, he gave all information in his power

B.L.R.O.l/1984 13

Stamping of length of piece-goods

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Application of Act to watches

Unintention-al contraven-tion

Merchandise Marks with respect to all persons from whom he obtained such piece-goods.

Penalty on a first conviction, imprisonment for 3 months or a fine of $1,000, and for a second or subsequent convic-tion imprisonment for one year or a fine of $3,000.

Where a watch case has thereon any words or marks which constitute, or are by common repute consi-dered as constituting, a description of the country in which the watch was made, and the watch bears no description of the country where it was made, those words or marks shall prima facie be deemed to be a description of that country within the meaning of this Act, and the provisions of this

Act with respect to goods to which a false trade description has been applied, and with respect to importing, selling or exposing for or having in possession for sale or any purpose of trade or manufacture goods with a false trade description, shall apply accordingly.

For the purposes of this section the expression

"watch" means all that portion of a watch which is not the watch case.

in the ordinary course of his business he is employed, on behalf of other persons, to apply trade marks or property marks, or trade descrip-

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Merchandise Marks tions, or as the case may be, to make dies, plates or instruments for making or being used in making trade marks or property marks, and that in the case which is the subject of the charge he was so employed by some person resident in Brunei and was not interested in the goods or other thing by way of profit or commission dependent on the sale thereof;

he took reasonable precaution against com-mitting the offence charge;

he had, at the time of the commission of the alleged offence, no reason to ~spect the genuine-ness of the mark or description; and

he gave to the prosecutor all the informa-tion in his power with respect to the persons on whose behalf the mark or description was applied;

he shall be discharged from the prosecution, but shall be liable to pay the costs incurred by the prosecutor, unless he has given due notice to him that he will rely on the above defence.

PARTY

When a forfeiture is directed on a conviction and an appeal lies against the conviction, an appeal shall lie against the forfeiture also.

When a forfeiture is directed on an acquittal and the goods or things to which the direction relates are of value exceeding $5,000, an appeal against the forfeiture may be preferred, within 7 days from the date of the direction, to the High Court.

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Any goods or things seized under such warrant shall be brought before the Court of a Magistrate for the purpose of its being determined whether the same are or are not liable to forfeiture under this Act.

If the owner of any goods or things, which would be liable to forfeiture under this Act, is unknown or cannot be found, an information or complaint may be laid for the purpose only of enforcing such forfeiture, and a Court of a

Magistrate may cause notice to be advertised stating that, unless cause is shown to the contrary at the time and place 17

Costs

Limitation

Search war-rant

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Punishment of abetment in Brunei of act done out of Brunei

Compound-ing offences

Merchandise Marks named in the notice, such goods or things will be forfeited and at such time and place the Court, unless the owner or any person on his behalf, or other person interested in the goods or things, shows cause to the contrary, may order such goods or things or any of them to be forfeited.

( 4) Any goods or things forfeited under this section, or under any other provisions of this Act, may be destroyed or otherwise disposed of, in such manner as the Court by which the same are forfeited directs.

( 5) The Court may, out of any proceeds which are realised by the disposition of such goods, all trade marks and property marks and trade descriptions being first obliterated, award to any innocent party any loss which he has innocently sustained in dealing with such goods.

Any offence punishable under this Act other than offences punishable under section 9, 13, 14, 16, 17 and 22

hereof may be compounded, or where a prosecution for any such offence is pending be compounded with the consent of the Court before which the case is pending.

When any offence is compoundable under this section the abetment of such offence, or an attempt to com-mit such offence when such attempt is itself an offence, may be compounded in like manner.

When the person who would otherwise be com-petent to compound an offence under this section is a minor, an idiot or a lunatic or is under some other legal

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Merchandise Marks disability any person competent to contract on his behalf may compound such offence.

Where an offence has been compounded under this section with the consent of the Court before which the case is pending, such composition shall have the effect of an acquittal of the accused in respect of the matters charged against him:

Provided that nothing in this section shall be construed to destroy, limit, derogate from or in any way affect the right of any other person injured by the acts complained of to institute and prosecute criminal or dvil proceedings, or both, against such accused person or against any other per-son in respect of whom any such right exists.

The provisions of section 213 and 214 of the Pen-Cap.

al Code shall not extend to any case in which the offence may lawfully be compounded under this section.

Where at the date of coming into force of this

Act, a trade description was lawfully and generally applied to goods of a particular class or manufactured by a particu-lar method to indicate the particular class or method of manufacture of such goods, the provisions of this Act with respect to false trade description shall not apply to such trade description when so applied.

Where such trade description includes the name of a place or country and is calculated to mislead as to the place or country where the goods to which it is applied were actually made or produced, and the goods are not actually made or produced in that place or country, this section shall not apply unless there is added to the trade description immediately before or after the name of that place or coun-try, in an equally conspicuous manner with that name, the name of the place or country in which the goods were actually made or produced, with a statement that they were made or produced there.