Research On The Theory And Practice Of The Protection Of Well-known Trademarks

In this era of globalization, worldwide brands has become an increasingly important marketing tool as companies seek to provide their goods and services to the public that is less and less restricted by international borders. As the Internet becomes a common form of communicating, trademarks may become key assets in a global branding campaign. Entities conducting business internationally must be increasingly vigilant against brand piracy.Well-known marks are those with good reputation in the public. Through use for a period of time and masses of advertising expenses, well-known marks are of great value in themselves. For this reason, well-known marks might be the primary targets of impostors. What's worse, the impostor of well-known marks will result in more customers being deceived. As a result, we should put more emphasis on the protection of well-known marks.This thesis comprises 4 chapters, totally 37000 words.Chapter 1 deals with a brief introduction of the protection of well-known mark. First, well-known marks in the treaties and national rules generally mean trademarks with reputation in the public of related section. Secondly, the special protection of well-known marks is reasonable for its reputation and distinctiveness. At the end of the Chapter, some misunderstandings about the concept of well-known mark and the scope of the protection are introduced for the following study.Chapter 2 carries out analysis on theories of the protection of well-known marks. The conventional protection against likelihood of confusion has been incompetent for well-known marks. EU has introduced likelihood of association to the protection of trademarks, and America has the theory of dilution for the protection of famous marks. In my opinion, in addition to protection against confusion, we still need hold the reputed marks against the dilution of distinctiveness.Chapter 3 summarizes the international rules and practice of several other countries. Paris Convention for the protection of Industrial Property, TRIPS, and Joint Recommendation Concerning Provisions on the Protection of Well-known Marks provide guidelines for national legislation. Different from marks with reputation in EU, America has famous marks, which mean truly prominent and renowned marks. As a result, the scopes of protection are different.Chapter 4 deals with the PRC legislations and practices on the protection of well-known marks. First, this part outlines the evolution of the PRC regulations in this section. As of today, there are still some problems in the administrative and judicial recognition system. Without the reputation in other sections of the public, well-known marks cannot prevent the use of identical or similar marks by the other party on the relevant kinds of goods or services. The point is that the scope of protection shall be corresponding to the reputation of trademarks.