Sekhem - Australia Trademarking

This page is for the attention of people using the word Sekhem in Australia. The date of posting is December 2006 with a minor update in November 2009 in respect of an expired trademarking approval. This website has separate pages relating to the trademarking of Sekhem in the European Union, the USA and in Hong Kong. Click here for the European Union page, click here for the USA page and click here for the Hong Kong page.

Background to this page

In November 2006, I posted to this website a Notice regarding the successful application by Helen Belôt to trademark the name SEKHEM within the European Union. Helen Belôt is the Australian Energy Master who works with the Sekhem energy. That Notice contained passing references to the trademarking of Sekhem in Australia, the USA and Hong Kong also. I subsequently received e-mails from healers in some of these countries asking for further information so am also posting to this website trademarking details for those countries.

It would be helpful if readers of this page could read also the legal concepts outlined in the Notice for the European Union trademarking in case any might be relevant in Australia.

The purpose of all the postings to this website regarding the trademarking of Sekhem around the world is to provide information and to give people affected by the trademarking some idea of the questions which they should be asking rather than try to give definitive position statements. Please note that I am not a qualified legal practitioner and people affected by the various trademarkings should seek the appropriate legal advice for their individual situations.

IP Australia

IP is the abbreviation for Intellectual Property. IP Australia is the name of the Australian Government organisation that has responsibility for the administration of patents, trade marks, designs and Plant Breeders’ Rights. The home page for its website is at http://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/ .

The primary legislation in Australia relevant to the trademarking of Sekhem is the Trade Marks Act 1995 which can be found by at http://www.comlaw.gov.au/comlaw/comlaw.nsf/sh/homepage.

Search for Sekhem related registered trademarks on the IP Australia website gives the following results. These results are the copyright of the Commonwealth of Australia and are posted to this website in accordance with the reproduction permissions from IP Australia.

Trade Mark : 746809

Word:	SEKHEM
Image:	ETERNITY SYMB. IN TRIANGLE IN CIRCLE; DROPS, FLOWER, STYL.
Lodgement Date:	21-OCT-1997
Registered From:	21-OCT-1997
Date of Acceptance:	08-APR-1999
Acceptance Advertised:	22-APR-1999
Registration Advertised:	19-AUG-1999
Sealing Date:	06-AUG-1999
Renewal Due:	21-OCT-2007
Class/es:	42
Status:	Registered/Protected - Renewal Due
Type of Mark:	Composite

Owner/s:

Helen Belôt

Goods & Services Class: 42.

Health care services inclusive of medical clinics, naturopaths; massage; medical assistance; pharmacy advice; physiotherapy; rest homes; sanitoriums; all the aforesaid being in relation to Sekhem healing methods

Endorsements: The applicant has advised that the word appearing in the trade mark means SPIRITUAL POWERS OR AUTHORITY and has this meaning in relation to all languages.*

Indexing Details - Word	Constituents
SEKHEM

Indexing Details - Image	Constituents
CIRCLE	DROP+
FLOWER	INFINITY
ROUND	SEVEN
STYLISED	SYMBOL,MATHEMATICAL
TRIANGLE

Trade Mark : 789543

Word:	HELEN BELOT SEKHEM
Image:
Lodgement Date:	29-MAR-1999
Registered From:	29-MAR-1999
Date of Acceptance:	03-DEC-1999
Acceptance Advertised:	23-DEC-1999
Registration Advertised:	20-APR-2000
Sealing Date:	07-APR-2000
Renewal Due:	29-MAR-2009
Class/es:	42
Status:	Registered/Protected
Kind:	n/a
Type of Mark:	Word

Owner/s:

Helen Belôt

Goods & Services Class: 42

Spiritual healing services; health care services inclusive of medical clinics, naturopathy; massage; medical assistance; pharmacy advice; physiotherapy; rest homes and sanitoriums; all the foregoing being in relation to SEKHEM healing methods

Indexing Details - Word	Constituents
BELOT	HELEN
SEKHEM

Indexing Details - Image	Constituents

Trade Mark : 740186

Word:	EMERGING LIGHT SEKHEM
Image:
Lodgement Date:	29-JUL-1997
Registered From:	29-JUL-1997
Date of Acceptance:	11-FEB-1998
Acceptance Advertised:	26-FEB-1998
Registration Advertised:	27-AUG-1998
Sealing Date:	12-AUG-1998
Renewal Due:	29-JUL-2007
Class/es:	41
Status:	Registered/Protected - Renewal Due
Kind:	n/a
Type of Mark:	Word

Owner/s:

Chris Heath

Goods & Services Class: 41

Educational workshops in spiritual healing

Indexing Details - Word	Constituents
EMERGING	LIGHT
SEKHEM

Indexing Details - Image

Constituents

Implications of the trademarks

It would be advisable for anybody in Australia affected by the trademarks to check with IP Australia that there are no other Sekhem related trademarks which for some reason do not appear in the main IP Australia database. There is reference on the IP Australia website to data migration from old legacy record systems to the current database and at the time of posting this Notice the migration might not yet be complete.

As advised above, it would be helpful if readers of this page could read also the legal concepts outlined in the Notice for the European Union trademarking in case any might be relevant in Australia.

Trademark 746809 is for a composite trademark. In simple terms, this means that the combination of the word SEKHEM together with the image is what has been trademarked. No trademarking approval for the word SEKHEM or for the logo by themselves is implied. The trademarking approval is only for what is shown above.

Trademark 789543 is for the combination of the three words HELEN BELOT SEKHEM and is only for the three words linked together in the way given. No trademarking approval for the word SEKHEM by itself is implied. The trademarking approval is only for what is shown above.

Trademark 740186 is for the combination of the three words EMERGING LIGHT SEKHEM and is only for the three words linked together in the way given. No trademarking approval for the word SEKHEM by itself is implied. The trademarking approval is only for what is shown above. It does not appear that application to renew this trademark was made in 2007 and it is possible that this trademark approval has ceased.

Although healers in Australia need to be mindful not to place themselves in the position whereby their use of the word Sekhem could reasonably be considered to be presenting themselves as providing the same service as the trademark owners or to be ‘passing themselves off’ in a manner similar to the trademark owners, it does need to be noted that the word Sekhem by itself does not appear to be trademarked unless there are other trademarking approvals in place which do not appear on the IP Australia website.

If any healer who believes that he or she has a legitimate right to work with the word Sekhem, any direction from a third party not to use the word or the image should be met with a request for the official trademark registration number that prevents the usage. Similarly, third parties should not give direction to people to cease using the word Sekhem unless they have checked back to the official trademark registration number on the basis of which they are giving direction. The reason for making this comment is that it seems to be a common practice around the world for third parties to say that the word Sekhem is trademarked when there might not be any trademark in place for the word used by itself.

Thank you.

Robert

15th December 2006