No. 4907 Government Gazette 23 March 2012 Act No. 1, 2012 79 INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY ACT, 2012 (5) Where the applicant files a counter-statement, the Registrar must as soon as possible furnish a copy thereof to the person opposing who may, within the prescribed period and in the prescribed manner, lodge a replying statement. (6) A person who gives notice of opposition as contemplated in subsection (1), and an applicant who files a counter-statement as contemplated in subsection (5) must submit evidence in support of the opposition or counter-statement as may be prescribed. (7) The Registrar must, after hearing the parties and considering the merits of the case, decide whether or not the mark should be registered. (8) After the publication of the application and until the registration of the mark, the applicant has the same right to damages as he or she would have had if the mark had been registered, but it is a valid defence to an action brought under this section in respect of an act done after the application was published, if the mark has in fact not been registered or if the defendant proves that the mark could not validly have been registered at the time the act was done. Registration and issuance of certificate 148. (1) (a) the application for the registration of a mark complies with the requirements of sections 131, 134, 137, 138 and 140; and (b) the registration of the mark has – (i) not been opposed under section 147 within the prescribed time limit; or (ii) been opposed but the Registrar has decided in the applicant’s favour, Where the Registrar is satisfied that – the Registrar must register the trade mark in the appropriate register and issue to the applicant a certificate of registration. (2) Where – (a) the requirements for the registration of a mark as contemplated in subsection (1) are not complied with; or (b) an application for the registration of a mark has been successfully opposed under section 147, the Registrar must refuse to register that mark as a trade mark. (3) If, by reason of default on the part of the applicant, after acceptance of the application in terms of section 146(1)(a), the registration of a trade mark has not been completed within the prescribed period from the date of such acceptance, the Registrar