(1)This section applies to communications as to any matter relating to the protection of any design or trade mark, or as to any matter involving passing off.
(2)Any such communication—
(a)between a person and his trade mark agent, or
(b)for the purpose of obtaining, or in response to a request for, information which a person is seeking for the purpose of instructing his trade mark agent,
is privileged from, or in Scotland protected against, disclosure in legal proceedings in the same way as a communication between a person and his solicitor or, as the case may be, a communication for the purpose of obtaining, or in response to a request for, information which a person is seeking for the purpose of instructing his solicitor.
(3)In subsection (2) “trade mark agent” means—
(a)a registered trade mark agent, or
(b)a partnership entitled to describe itself as a firm of registered trade mark agents, or
(c)a body corporate entitled to describe itself as a registered trade mark agent.