The Legal Protection Of Celebrity Image Mark

With the development of modern science and technology, the deepening of the market economy and the well-developed media, the signs of personality elements of natural person, such as name,portrait and so on, are widely used in commercial areas, becoming an important instrument of merchandise promotion and commercial interest creation. Moreover, with the development of social practice, the signs which can be commercially used have gone beyond the scope of the personality signs of natural person. Famous people's voice, particular slogan or phrase, even unique external characteristics have become the subject of commercial use. Accompanied this new phenomenon, a large number of disputes happened, which need for effective legal regulation. However, there are no specific provisions on these problems in the current laws of our country, and also exist misunderstandings even to the current legal system in the judicial practice. Moreover, in the theory circle, the consensus on what protected mode should be adopted has not yet been reached. It is still necessary to study the protection of the celebrity image marks.The purpose of this thesis is to provide a reference to the resolving of the disputes in the judicial practice and to the legislative choice of our country by analyze the protections that the current legal system can provide and by introduce and study several protected models.In addition to the introduction and conclusion, this thesis consists of three parts.The first part discusses the commercial value of the celebrity image marks. First, it defines the concept of the celebrity image marks, and then analyzes the reasons why these marks have so great commercial value. In addition, introduces the main forms and problems of commercial use in the social practice.The second part introduces and studies the protected model of the right of personality. First, it analyzes the protections that can be provided by the current system of the right of personality. Mainly introduces the right of name and the right of portrait, which can regulate some behavior of commercial use. The law of our country also provides a measure of protections to the deceased's name, portrait and other benefits of personality in the form of legal interpretation. Then, points out the deficiencies in the protection of the right of personality. Following, introduces the development of the theory and the practice of the right of personality. The third part introduces the protected model of the right of publicity. First, explains the concept and the content of the right of publicity, and then from the aspects of the historical evolution, the scope of protection, the inheriting and the term of protection to introduce the legal system of the right of publicity. Following, analyzes the advantages of the right of publicity for the protection of the celebrity image marks, as one property right. At the same time, points out that the introduction and establishment of the new legal system is still have difficulties in our country.The fourth part studies the protection of the intellectual property law. The intellectual property law, particularly the trademark law is still one important legal system for the protection of the celebrity image marks, although the protection of trademark will be subject to some restrictions. Through the application of prior rights system and the terms of adversely affect in the progress of the review of applications for registration of trademarks, some improper registrations to the celebrity image marks can be regulated. The thesis also discusses several typical problems in relation to these marks and introduces the forms and problems of the commercial use of these trademarks. The Copyright law and the system of Design Patent can provide a degree of protection in some cases.Finally, it discusses the protection of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law. Anti-Unfair Competition Law is the supplement of intellectual property protection, a number of problems related to the marks can be included in the scope of its protection. "passing-off" is an important form of lawsuit in some common law countries. Although the Anti-Unfair Competition Law of our country is still not perfect, there are still some differences on the understanding of the subject and the scope of unfair competition acts, it still can provide a degree of protection to the celebrity image marks.