New Zealand - "Featuring" gets removed from pre-approved services

Anyone filing trade mark applications into NZ might have spotted that a few months ago, IPONZ started objecting to the word "featuring" in class 35 wholesale and retail services.Regardless as to whether "featuring" is (or isn't) an overly broad or indefinite term, the real issue with these objections was that the IPONZ pre-approved goods and services database still included the objected-to services; in fact when selecting retail and wholesale services from the database, the user is given this clear message: "Pursuant to section 31(2) of the Act, IPONZ will accept the terms shown in this database as descriptions in specifications when making your trade mark application."Late last week, IPONZ removed 700+ of these retail and wholesale services from their pre-approved goods and services database, so at least applicants using pre-approved goods and services won't be receiving a surprise s31 objection.Click here to see the complete list of services removed by IPONZ last week.