“ZIPLOC”Decision of the Supreme Court of New Zealand 15 October 2020 – Case No. [2020] NZSC 110

The register is assessed for competing marks as at the date of entry onto the register.But the date of application remains relevant. There cannot be an identical or similar trade mark belonging to different parties on the register at the same time. This means that an application for registration of a trade mark must:Not precede the date of application for revocation; orIf it does, there must be an application to backdate the revocation to the date of application for registration, or there must be a finding of special circumstances under s 26(b) or that one of the other exceptions in s 26 applies.