The Treasury on behalf of the Crown can transfer trade marks and other intellectual property held in the name of a removed company.
To make an application, please provide the following:
- A statutory declaration by a director of the removed company ("the Company") (or someone else associated with the Company) at the time the Company was removed which includes:
1.1 details of the circumstances surrounding the creation of the trade mark or other intellectual property;
1.2 details of the circumstances surrounding the removal of the Company without first dealing with the trade mark or other intellectual property; and
1.3 a declaration that the Company held the trade mark or other intellectual property in its own right and not on trust for any other body corporate or any other person.
If you are unable to locate anyone associated with the Company at the time it was removed we may accept a statutory declaration from someone else with knowledge of the matter. However, their statutory declaration will also need to include details of the steps taken to contact the former director(s) of the Company. - An application form requesting the Crown deal with the matter pursuant to the relevant section of the Companies Act 1993 or Companies Act 1955, together with an indemnity from the applicant in favour of the Crown in respect of all or any liability that may be incurred by the Crown in respect of actions taken in obtaining a transfer of the trade mark or other intellectual property.
- A copy of the trade mark or other intellectual property registered with the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand (IPONZ).
- Evidence that no other person who may claim an interest in the trade mark or other intellectual property may be prejudiced by the Crown transferring it to the applicant. This might include written consents from each person who was a director of, or shareholder in, the Company at the time the Company was removed, consenting to the transfer of the trade mark or other intellectual property to the applicant. If the Company was removed following a liquidation we may also require evidence from the liquidator detailing why the trade mark or other intellectual property wasn't dealt with during the liquidation.
- Extracts from the Companies Office for the Company showing when it was registered and when it was removed.
- Your undertaking to pay our fee ($400 inclusive of GST) and to reimburse any advertising costs and other disbursements we need to incur in connection with this matter. We are entitled to recover our costs pursuant to section 75(2) of the Public Finance Act 1989.
Provided that we find the above documents to be satisfactory we will execute an application to IPONZ to have the Crown registered as owner of the trade mark or other intellectual property together with a deed of assignment of the trade mark or other intellectual property to the applicant. These documents will be forwarded to you and you will be responsible for filing them with IPONZ.
As an alternative to seeking a transfer of the trade mark by the Crown you may also wish to consider an application to restore the Company to the register. In some circumstances this can be a faster and cheaper process than seeking a transfer. For more information, see How to deal with property of a company removed from the Companies Register.
Template forms of the statutory declaration and the application and indemnity are available below.
Templates
Statutory Declaration - Trade Mark (Word, 30KB)
Application and Indemnity - Trade Mark (Word, 33KB)
If you have any specific questions not covered, please email [email protected].