On The Reasonable Use Of The Trademark

Fair use of the trademark is the limitation of the trademark power. It is based on the interests of the right holders and the public, having the protection of legislative purpose of the trademark law, and fully showing the freedom of speech of the Constitution. There are provisions about this system in international convention and some west countries. It is divided into different types, descriptive fair use, indicative fair use and parody are all typical forms. The criterion of the trademark fair use is the key to judge the fair use and the tort. Different criterions are available to different fair uses, but the likelihood of confusion are the factors that must be considered. There is no regulation of the fair use system in our《Trademark Law》. Article 49 in《Trademark Law Implementing Regulations》has contents correlated with this, but too principled. More and more cases come to a striking contrast in the lack of legislation and judicial practice. Therefore, this paper is based on the meaning of trademark fair use, using the regulations of European countries about this system for reference, systematically analyzing the type of trademark fair use and criterions, building a rational trademark use system for our national condition on this basis.