The respondents' submission
136 The second respondent submitted that although the word "may" in s 88(1) is used in a facultative sense, that is to say, to confer authority to make an order for rectification in particular circumstances, it did not follow that once those circumstances are found to exist, it is open to the Court not to exercise that authority. According to the respondents' submission, s 88(1) is part of a statutory scheme which establishes a discretion not to cancel a registered trade mark in some situations but not others.
137 The different senses in which the word "may" can be used in a statutory provision that confers a power to take a step (eg. cancelling a licence or refunding an overpayment) were explained by Gleeson CJ and McHugh J in Samad v District Court of New South Wales (2002) 209 CLR 140 as follows at [32]-[34]:
[32] When a statutory power is conferred by the use of words of permission, there may arise a question whether the effect is to impose an obligation, or, at least, an obligation that must be performed in certain circumstances. Even where it is plain that the intention of the legislature was permissive, questions may arise as to the nature of the considerations that the person in whom the power is confided may be entitled or bound to take into account in the exercise of the discretion conferred. Issues of this kind are to be resolved as a matter of statutory interpretation, having regard to the language of the statute, the context of the relevant provision, and the general scope and objects of the legislation [Ward v Williams (1955) 92 CLR 496 at 505, per Dixon CJ, Webb, Fullagar, Kitto and Taylor JJ].
[33] As was pointed out in Ward v Williams [(1955) 92 CLR 496 at 506] there is a long history of legislative intervention in New South Wales "to restrain the development of the notion that permissive words may have a compulsive effect". The current provision is s 9 of the Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW) which, except in so far as the contrary intention appears in an Act or instrument (s 5), provides that the word "may'", if used to confer a power, indicates that the power may be exercised or not, at discretion.
[34] An example of a statutory provision in which a contrary intention appeared may be seen in Finance Facilities Pty Ltd v Federal Commissioner of Taxation [(1971) 127 CLR 106]. Section 46(3) of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (Cth) provided that, if the Commissioner was satisfied that certain conditions as to non-payment of dividends were fulfilled, the Commissioner "may allow" a private company a rebate in its assessment. This Court held that, if the Commissioner was satisfied of the specified condition, then he was obliged to allow the rebate. The taxpayer had a right or entitlement. The context indicated that it was not intended that the Commissioner should have a discretionary power to defeat that right or entitlement. The word "may" conferred a power; and the statutory intention was that the power be exercised if the condition was fulfilled. That decision may be compared with Commissioner of State Revenue (Vict) v Royal Insurance Australia Ltd [(1994) 182 CLR 51], where this Court was divided on the question whether a provision empowering a revenue authority to refund overpaid duty conferred a discretion, or whether it merely gave authority to make a payment which had to be exercised in the circumstances indicated.
138 In support of their submission the respondents relied upon the decision of Branson J in EOS Australia Pty Ltd v Expo Tomei Pty Ltd (1998) 42 IPR 277 ("EOS") in which her Honour expressed the view that s 88(1) of the Act does not confer a discretion not to cancel a registered trade mark. The registered owner in that case sought to rely on equitable concepts of delay and acquiescence. Her Honour said at 286-287:
It is necessary to give consideration to the relevance, if any, of such equitable notions in the context of s 88(1) of the Act. Section 88 is concerned with the integrity of a public register, and not merely with the respective rights of parties inter se. In my view, s 88(1) does not itself give to a court a true discretion to order, or not to order, rectification of the register where a ground of rectification specified in s 88(2) is established. The word "may" is used in the subsection, in my view, in the facultative sense and not so as to create a true discretion. As Brennan J pointed out in Commissioner of State Revenue (Vic) v Royal Insurance Australia Ltd (1994) 182 CLR 51 at 84-5; 126 ALR 1 at 23:
The question whether the repository of a discretionary power is under a duty to exercise the power depends upon the intention of the legislature as revealed in the language of the statute and, in ascertaining that intention, there is a prima facie presumption "that permissive or facultative expressions operate according to their ordinary natural meaning". Therefore, if the facultative term "may" is used in the creation of a power, it does not in itself impose a duty to exercise the power but such a duty may be found in the statutory context in which the power is created. Thus, where a power is conditioned upon the existence of an event or upon the formation of a particular opinion by the repository of the power, the condition may sometimes be taken to specify the circumstances in which the power must be exercised.
The power created by s 88(1) is conditional upon the existence of facts or events, or upon the formation of a particular opinion by a prescribed court. Moreover, the terms of s 89 of the Act tend to suggest that s 88(1) does not vest a true discretion in a prescribed court, in that s 89 gives to such a court discretion, in limited circumstances only, not to grant an application for registration. Such a limited discretion would seem to be consistent with a statutory intention to protect the integrity of the register, and would seem to be inconsistent with an unlimited discretion being created by s 88(1).
139 There are a number of points to make in relation to her Honour's observations in EOS.
140 First, the Act uses the words "may" and "must" in various provisions to distinguish situations in which a power may be exercised from those in which a power must be exercised. For example, the word "must" is used in s 42 so as to compel the rejection of an application for registration of a trade mark that contains scandalous matter: see also, by way of further example, ss 39, 40, 43, 44(1), 51(2), 68, 83A(3), 84(1), 108(1) and 110(1). When a discretion is conferred, the word "may" is used: see, for example, ss 38, 44(3), 66(1), 83A(6) and 84A(1).
141 Secondly, relevant provisions of the Act must be read subject to the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 (Cth) the provisions of which apply "subject to a contrary intention". Section 33(2A) of that Act provides:
Where an Act assented to after the commencement of this subsection provides that a person, court or body may do a particular act or thing, and the word may is used, the act or thing may be done at the discretion of the person, court or body.
The amendments to the Act that introduced s 33(2A) were made in 1987. Accordingly, subject to any contrary intention, s 33(2A) of the Acts Interpretation Act governs the interpretation of s 88(1) of the Act.
142 Thirdly, s 89 regulates the exercise of the discretion to order rectification under s 87 (ie. where s 24 or s 25 applies) and also in situations in which the registration of a trade mark could have been opposed on the ground that the mark is liable to deceive or confuse (ie. where ss 43, 60 or 61 applies). Section 89 covers its own particular field and is aimed at dealing with some well-known difficulties that were encountered in the construction of relevant provisions of the 1955 Act.
143 It is unnecessary for us to refer to these difficulties in any detail for the purpose of making our point. However, the interplay between s 28(a) (particularly when read with s 28(d)) and s 22(1)(b) in the 1955 Act in circumstances where a registered mark only became deceptive after the date of registration, raised a number of difficult issues that were not finally resolved until the High Court gave judgment in Campomar Sociedad Limitada v Nike International Ltd (2000) 202 CLR 45 ("Campomar") some five years after the 1995 Act came into force.
144 The first issue concerned the significance of the registered proprietor's own conduct in relation to the mark, and whether the registered proprietor's own blameworthy conduct contributed to the mark becoming deceptive. The second issue related to the onus of proof. Was it for the applicant for rectification to prove that a mark that became deceptive after its registration did so by reason of some blameworthy conduct on the part of the registered proprietor or was it for the registered proprietor to show that it was not responsible for the mark becoming deceptive?
145 These issues were considered in Re Bali Brassiere Co Inc's Trade Mark; Re Berlei Ltd's Application (1968) 118 CLR 128 and, on appeal, Berlei Hestia Industries Ltd v Bali Co Inc (1973) 129 CLR 353, HTX International Pty Ltd v Semco Pty Ltd (1983) 78 FLR 57 at 63-64, Riv-Oland Marble Co (Vic) Pty Ltd v Settef SpA (1988) 19 FCR 569 at 573-574 (Bowen CJ), 578-589 (Northrop J), 596-598 (Lockhart J) and New South Wales Dairy Corporation v Murray Goulburn Co-operative Co Ltd (1990) 171 CLR 363 at 391. In Campomar the High Court adopted a construction of the relevant provisions of the 1955 Act that deprived s 28 of the 1955 Act of the "continuing or secondary operation" that gave rise to these issues: see Campomar at [68]-[76].
146 All of this indicates to us that the broad discretion conferred by the use of the word "may" in s 88(1) was not intended to be confined unless the power to cancel depends on the application of ss 24 or 25 (s 88(1)(a)) or on a finding that the trade mark is liable to deceive or confuse (s 88(1)(b) and (c)). In our view, unless s 89 is engaged, the discretion under s 88(1) is at large, constrained only by the general scope and objects of the Act.
147 In Ritz Hotel Ltd v Charles of the Ritz Ltd (1988) 15 NSWLR 158 ("Charles of the Ritz") McLelland J (as his Honour then was), referring to both the discretion under s 22(1) of the 1955 Act to order rectification and the discretion under s 23(1) of the 1955 Act to order removal, said at 221:
The court's powers to order rectification of the Register under s 22(1) and to order the removal of a trade mark under s 23(1) are in each case of a discretionary nature. This is the natural and ordinary meaning of the words used and promotes the underlying policy of the Act by giving the court a sufficient degree of flexibility to give effect to public interest considerations. The existence of a discretion to withhold relief even if a ground for rectification or removal has been made out is also well established by authority: see, as to rectification, Hannaford & Burton Ltd v Polaroid Corporation [1976] 2 NZLR 14 at 17-18 (Privy Council); General Electric Co (of USA) v General Electric Co Ltd at 751; 526-529; Berlei Hestia Industries Ltd v Bali Co Inc (at 363); Imperial Group Ltd v Philip Morris & Co Ltd (1982) 8 FSR 72 at 87-88 and as to removal, Re Carl Zeiss Pty Ltd's Application (1969) 122 CLR 1 at 5-6 and the earlier cases there referred to, and "Astronaut" TradeMark [1972] RPC 655 at 672.
The proper approach under both s 22(1) and s 23(1) is that if the condition of exercise of the court's power has been established, the entry of the mark should be expunged, or the mark should be removed, as the case may be, "unless sufficient reason appears for leaving it there": cf Carl Zeiss (at 11); "Astronaut" (at 672).
148 In our view, what his Honour said in these passages is also true of s 88(1) of the Act except in so far as the discretion is qualified by the operation of s 89 in the particular circumstances to which it refers.
149 We respectfully disagree with Branson J's statements in EOS in so far as they suggest that s 88(1) of the Act does not confer any discretion not to cancel a mark in circumstances where the power to cancel is enlivened.
150 We reject the respondents' submission that there is no discretion to not cancel the registered marks in the circumstances of this case.