prescribed manner.
(3) If, on the application for the registration of a trade mark as to which the Registrar
has given advice in terms of subsection (1) in the affirmative, made within three
months after the advice is given, the Registrar, after further investigation or
consideration, gives notice to the applicant of objection on the ground that the trade
mark is not apt to distinguish or capable of distinguishing, as the case may be, or is
incapable of registration by virtue of subsection (1) of section fourteen, the applicant
shall be entitled, on giving notice of withdrawal of the application within the
prescribed period, to have repaid to him any fee paid on the lodging of the
application.
52
Hearing before exercise of Registrar’s discretion
Where any discretionary or other power is given by this Act to the Registrar, he shall
not exercise that power adversely to the applicant or the registered proprietor of the
trade mark in question, as the case may be, without giving to the applicant or
registered proprietor an opportunity of being heard.
53
Evidence of certain entries and documents
(1) A certificate purporting to be signed by the Registrar and certifying that any entry
which is authorized by or under this Act or the repealed legislation to be made has or
has not been made or that any other thing which is so authorized to be done has or has
not been done shall be prima facie evidence of the matters so certified.
(2) A copy of any entry in the Register or of any document kept in the Trade Marks
Office or of any trade mark or an extract from the Register or any such document
certified by the Registrar and sealed with the seal of the Trade Marks Office shall be
admitted in evidence without further proof and without production of the original.
54
Inspection of documents
(1) The Register and any prescribed form which is lodged at the Trade Marks Office
shall, at all convenient times, be open to inspection by the public and certified copies,
either sealed with the seal of the Trade Marks Office or unsealed as may be required,
of any entry in, or particulars from, the Register or of any such form, as the case may
be, shall be given to any person requiring them on payment of the prescribed fee.
(2) Save as otherwise provided in this Act, any person who wishes to inspect any
document submitted in connection with any application made in terms of this Act or
the repealed legislation, not being a prescribed form, shall apply in writing to the
Registrar stating the reason therefor and the grounds on which he claims an interest in
the matter, and on receipt of such application the Registrar—
(a)
shall refer a copy of the application to the proprietor of, or applicant
for, the trade mark concerned, as the case may be, who may, within such period as
may be prescribed, object to disclosure of the document or any information contained
therein on the grounds that the interest claimed is not genuine or that the document
contains information disclosure of which would cause damage or prejudice; and
may, after considering any objection lodged in terms of paragraph (a),
(b)
permit the applicant to inspect such document or portion thereof if he considers that
inspection thereof is justified in the circumstances and a certified copy of such
document or an extract therefrom may be given on payment of the prescribed fee:
Provided that the Registrar shall not permit any inspection in terms of
this paragraph—
(i)
prior to the date that the acceptance of the application concerned is
advertised in terms of subsection (1) of section twenty-two; or
(ii)
where an objection has been lodged in terms of paragraph (a), without
first notifying the person lodging the objection that he intends to permit such
inspection and affording that person an opportunity of appealing in terms of
subsection (3).
(3) An appeal shall lie from any decision of the Registrar under this section.
(4) In this section—
“prescribed form” means any application, request, authorization, declaration or other