Lees-Galloway Iain: Trade Marks (International Treaties and Enforcement) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Lees-Galloway Iain: Trade Marks (International Treaties and Enforcement) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:675;Page:21020] 
IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY (Labour—Palmerston North) 
: 
 Part 1 of the Trade Marks (International Treaties and Enforcement) Amendment Bill refers to amendments to the Trade Marks Act 2002 and specifically allows New Zealand to become a party to a number of treaties as has been outlined by previous speakers. 
Clause 5 deals with the classification of trademarks by repealing section 31(1) and substituting the following subsection (1): “Goods and services must be classified for the purpose of registration of a trade mark according to the edition of the Nice Classification in effect at the time of application for registration of the trade mark.” The Nice Agreement Concerning the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks resulted from the Nice Diplomatic Conference of 1957. As my colleague David Shearer said the Nice classification is updated every 5 years. Given that it has been around for quite some time New Zealand has been applying the principles of the Nice classification and this bill will codify and formalise it in the legislation. 
The Nice classification is an authoritative classification of goods and services for use in registering trademarks and service marks. It is a list of 45 classes of goods and services thousands of specific types in each class—which I will not be tempted to list—and has detailed descriptions of most of those. [ 
Interruption 
] It is good to hear that Rahui Katene is listening; somebody is. The Nice classification is currently in use in 148 countries. The advantages of using the classification system are that national trademark offices have the ability to apply trademark applications in a coordinated manner with reference to that single classification system. Filing of trademarks is thereby greatly simplified as the goods and services to which a given mark applies will be classified in the same way in all countries that have adopted the system. That the Nice classification system exists in several languages also saves applicants a considerable amount of time in filing their work internationally. 
In January 2009 there were 83 signatories to the Nice agreement. These countries have officially adopted the classification system and apply it in the registration of trademarks. In addition 65 non-member countries four organisations and the international bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization also use the Nice classification. I am guessing not having been a member of the Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee that we fall into one of those 65 non-member countries and this bill will allow us to become one of the member countries. Therefore when the classification system is next reviewed we will have a much greater opportunity to have a say in the way that the classification system takes place. 
One of the other protocols that has been codified in Part 1 of the bill is the Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks (Madrid Protocol). It provides a system that simplifies the procedures required for trademark owners to protect their trademarks overseas. Joining the Madrid Protocol will provide New Zealand trademark owners with the possibility of having their trademarks protected overseas by filing one single application for registration of a trademark with the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand and designating one or more overseas countries who are also members of the Madrid Protocol where protection is sought. Overseas trademark owners would also be able to use the Madrid Protocol to protect their trademarks here in New Zealand so it is a two-way process. Joining the Madrid Protocol would also simplify the subsequent management of overseas-registered trademarks. It is possible to renew or record subsequent changes to the trademarks registration in each country using the Madrid Protocol through a single procedural step rather than making a request directly in each country. 
The bill introduces amendments to the Trade Marks Act to facilitate the implementation of the international registration regime for trademarks under the Madrid Protocol including providing for regulations to be made for the purposes of giving effect to New Zealand’s obligations under the Madrid Protocol. 
The third treaty that is being ratified is the Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trade Marks which other members have referred to. It aims to make national trademarks registration systems more user-friendly and to reduce business compliance costs for trademark owners. It does this through the simplification and international harmonisation of national registration procedures.