Disputes often arise between traders connected in different ways to the product such as a manufacturer of the goods and the importer or distributor of the goods. Sometimes matters are complicated where the manufacturer has acquired common law rights to the trade mark but the distributor or importer has tried to secure some rights to the trade mark by applying to register the trade mark.

It may be that an agreement or contract governs the rights to the trade mark and it may be held that the mark is jointly owned. However the general rule is that the trader who first applied the mark to the particular goods as a way of distinguishing the goods from other traders is the first owner of the trade mark. Therefore a manufacturer who has applied the trade mark to the goods will most likely be considered the true owner of the trade mark. So while the distributor may be seen as the only one to deal in the trade mark they are not the true owners of the trade mark.