Regulations For The Use of The Leathermark

Regulations for governing the use of the certification trade mark registered in the name of UK Leather Federation and licensed to Eurofins BLC Leather Technology Centre Limited. 

1.  In these regulations unless there is anything in the context inconsistent therewith:    

(a)  "Applicant" means any Person applying for a Certificate.    

(b)  "Authorised User" means any Person for the time being authorised to use the Trade Mark under a Certificate.

(c)  "Certificate" means a certificate issued by the company in accordance with these Regulations.    

(d)  "Company" means Eurofins BLC Leather Technology Centre Ltd of Kings Park Road, Moulton Park, Northampton NN3 6JD, a testing and technical support organisation for the leather industry.    

(e)  "Person" means any individual or any body of persons corporate or unincorporate.  

(f)  "Register" means the register of the Authorised Users that is kept by the Company.    

(g)  "Standards" mean the standards set out in Schedule 1.    

(h)  "Trade Mark" means the mark registered under the provisions of Section 37 of the Trade Marks Act 1938 under No 1067132 as a certification trade mark.

2.  The Trade Mark is the absolute property of the Company and shall not be used by any other Person except under and by virtue of a Certificate.    

3.  The power of issuing or cancelling a Certificate is vested in the Company and, subject to the provisions of Regulations 14.1 and 14.2, the Company shall decide whether a Person is to be issued with a Certificate.

4.1.  A register shall be kept at the address of the Company and shall contain the name, address and trade activities of each Authorised User, the description of goods in relation to which he is authorised to use the Trade Mark, the date of his registration in the Register, and, in the case of a former Authorised User, particulars of the cancellation of his Certificate.    

4.2. The Register shall be open to the inspection of the public.

5.1. The Trade Mark shall be applied only to goods in respect of which it is registered (all these goods being listed in Schedule 2) and which conform to the relevant Standards.    

5.2.  Subject to the consent of the Secretary of State, the Company shall be entitled to establish from time to time additional Standards relating to leather content and other characteristics which goods bearing the Trade Mark must possess.    

5.3.  Goods which conform to the relevant Standards and to which the Trade Mark has been applied by the holder of a valid Certificate shall be deemed to have been certified by the Company.  

6.  Prior to the issue of a Certificate every Applicant may be required to submit samples of the relevant goods to the company for testing and he shall permit representatives of the Company to enter his factory or other premises on reasonable prior notice for the purpose of examining relevant goods and inspecting the system of control to be used by him in respect of such goods. If the Company is satisfied:    

(a) that the Applicant carries on or intends to carry on a business in goods to which the Trade Mark may be applied under these Regulations,    

(b)  that the goods on which the Trade Mark is proposed to be used conform to the relevant Standards,    

(c) that the system of control to be used is adequate to ensure that the goods on which the Trade Mark will be used will conform to the relevant Standards,    

(d)  that the Applicant is willing to permit representatives of the Company to enter his factory or other premises at least once a year during normal working hours for the purpose of examining relevant goods, and    

(e)  that the Applicant is willing whenever the Company requires him to do so to submit samples of relevant goods to the Company for testing, the Company shall issue the Applicant with a Certificate and he shall become an Authorised User.  

7.  The following shall be the form of the Certificate for the use of the Trade Mark:

See Leathermark 4

8.1.  Subject to the provisions of these Regulations, a Certificate for the use of the Trade Mark shall continue in force unless and until cancelled by the Company or relinquished by the Authorised User.    

8.2.  On proof to the satisfaction of the Company of the loss or destruction of any Certificate that is in force, and on compliance by the Authorised User with such reasonable conditions as the Company may see fit to impose in respect of such issue, the Company may issue a duplicate thereof.    

9.1.  The Trade Mark shall be applied to the goods in such a way as to be clearly visible and the manner of application of the Trade Mark shall require the approval of the Company.    

9.2.  A means of identifying the Authorised User, such as his name, his own trade mark, or some other means of identification approved by the Company, shall always appear on goods on which the Trade Mark is used by him.  

9.3.  The design of all labels or other means of applying the Trade Mark to the goods shall require the approval of the Company.    

9.4.  In making use of the Trade Mark the Authorised User shall not omit any part of it or make any additions to it or alter it in any other respect whatsoever.    

9.5.  Subject to the provision of Regulation 9.2, nothing in these Regulations shall interfere with the separate use by the Authorised User of his own trade mark or brand name in relation to his goods.    

9.6.  The Authorised User shall not make any use or cause or assist to be made any use of a mark which could be regarded as a colourable imitation of or which could be considered infringement of the Trade Mark.    

9.7. Where materials other than real leather are used in conjunction with real leather, an indication of the fact must be given.

10. The Authorised User shall:    

(a)  permit representatives of the Company to enter his factory or other premises at least once a year at the discretion of the Company during normal working hours for the purpose of examining relevant goods,    

(b)  comply with reasonable requests on the part of the Company for him to provide samples of relevant goods for testing, and    

(c)  submit such evidence as the Company may reasonably require, so as to enable the Company to satisfy itself that these Regulations are being complied with.    

11.  If the Authorised User employs the Trade Mark in such a way as to cause a clear infringement of the Trade Descriptions Act 1968, the Company shall do all within its power to instigate and assist in the prosecution of the Authorised User, including, where necessary and appropriate, bringing proceedings itself.   

12.  If the Authorised User ceases to carry on his business, the Company shall be entitled to cancel his Certificate.

13.1. If an Authorised User commits any substantial breach of these Regulations or declines to comply with them or in any way uses the Trade Mark, or causes it to be used, in an unauthorised or misleading or deceptive manner or is convicted of any offence tending to the discredit of his reputation and good faith as a trader or becomes bankrupt or makes any composition or arrangement with his creditors or, in the case of a corporation, goes into liquidation or has a receiver appointed over its assets, the said Authorised User's Certificate shall be liable to be cancelled.    

13.2. In the event of the Company cancelling a Certificate or of an Authorised User relinquishing his Certificate, all material of any kind indicating the Trade Mark or carrying an indication of the Trade Mark, and all blocks or other aids for making such indications, shall forthwith be delivered to the Company for the purpose of being destroyed, unless it is proved to the satisfaction of the Company that this destruction has been carried out; and after the cancellation the Authorised User or his successor in title shall not sell, or expose for sale, any goods bearing the Trade Mark except with the consent of the Company, which shall not be unreasonably withheld.    

13.3 If the Trade Mark has been used by the Authorised User on goods which are in breach of these Regulations, the Company shall be entitled to require the Authorised User to remove the Trade Mark from these goods or withdraw them from the market or exchange them for similar goods that meet the requirements of these Regulations.

14.1  In the event of the issue of a Certificate being refused or a Certificate being cancelled by the Company, the Person concerned shall during the period of thirty days immediately following such refusal or cancellation be entitled to appeal against such refusal or cancellation to an independent arbitrator to be agreed between the Person concerned and the Company or, in default of such agreement or if the Person concerned is dissatisfied with the decision of the aforementioned independent arbitrator, to the Registrar of Trade Marks, or such other person as he may appoint.    

14.2.  In the event of an appeal being made under Regulation 14.1 the decision of the Registrar of Trade Marks on such appeal - after submission to him of such representations as (subject to the discretion of the Registrar of Trade Marks to decline to receive irrelevant, repetitive or belated representations) the parties desire to make or he shall require - shall be final and binding on the Company and the Person concerned.  

15.  Subject to the consent of the Secretary of State, the Company may from time to time alter wholly or in part these Regulations and the schedules thereto, but no such alteration shall affect the use of the Trade Mark by the Authorised User unless he has received twelve calendar months’ notice thereof in writing and until such period of notice has expired.

16.  For the purpose of making tests and inspections the Company may from time to time delegate its powers or any of them to a management committee duly appointed by a resolution of the Company and the management committee may also be appointed and selected to represent the Company subject always to such conditions as the Company may from time to time impose.

17.  Any notice given to an Authorised User by the Company in pursuance of these Regulations shall be deemed to have been duly given if forwarded through the post by prepaid letter addressed to the Authorised User at his address in the Register.

The Standards to which goods or products sold under the mark must conform are that the material of which they are made must be of or must contain real leather as defined by British Standard BS 2780:1983 Definition 159 (set out below), or any British or European Standard which replaces said British Standard, and must not be of or contain any artificial leather, synthetic leather, coated leather (except as allowed under Note 1 of said British Standard), or laminated leather.

No. 159 Leather    

Hide of skin with its original fibrous structure more or less intact, tanned to be imputrescible. The hair or wool may or may not have been removed. It is also made from a hide or skin that has been split into layers or segmented either before or after tanning.    

Note 1: If the leather has a surface coating, the mean thickness of this surface layer, however applied, has to be 0.15mm or less. See 56, 156, 189, 190 and 191 of BS 2780:1983.    

Note 2: If the tanned hide or skin is disintegrated mechanically and/or chemically into fibrous particles, small pieces of powder and then, with or without the combination of a binding agent, is made into sheets or forms, such sheets or forms are not leather.     

The goods in respect of which the Trade Mark is registered are as follows:    

All goods included in Classes 7, 9, 16, 18, 20, 21, 25, 27, 28, and 34 made wholly or partly of leather or of imitation leather, and leather and articles made therefrom included in Class 18.