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Prohibition of registration of identical and resembling trade marks.
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20.—(1) Subject to subsection (2) of this section, no trade mark shall be registered in respect of any goods or description of goods that is identical with a trade mark belonging to a different proprietor and already on the register in respect of the same goods or description of goods, or that so nearly resembles such a trade mark as to be likely to deceive or cause confusion.
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(2) In case of honest concurrent use, or of other special circumstances which in the opinion of the Court or the Controller make it proper so to do, the Court or the Controller (as the case may be) may permit the registration of trade marks that are identical or nearly resemble each other in respect of the same goods or description of goods by more than one proprietor subject to such conditions and limitations, if any, as the Court or the Controller (as the case may be) may think it right to impose.
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(3) Where separate applications are made by different persons to be registered as proprietors respectively of trade marks that are identical or nearly resemble each other, in respect of the same goods or description of goods, the Controller may refuse to register any of them until their rights have been determined by the Court, or have been settled by agreement in a manner approved by him or by the Court on an appeal, as the case may be:
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Provided that where separate applications by different persons to be registered as proprietors respectively of trade marks that are identical or nearly resemble each other are made on different dates, the Controller may refuse to proceed with the second or later of those applications until the first application shall have been determined, and that the trade mark the subject of the first application shall, if that trade mark is thereupon registered, be deemed to be a trade mark already on the register under subsection (1) of this section in relation to the trade mark the subject of the second or later application.
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