Research On Issues Of Concurrent Use Of Registered Trademark

The concurrent use of trademarks, which is the use of same or similar trademarkin the related merchandise or service by two or more trademark owners, can causepublic confusion due to people’s insufficient recognition of either the trademarkowners or concurrent use behavior. In China, after trademark registration, thetrademarks owners have the right to exclude other people from using the same orsimilar trademarks in the relevant merchandise or service. However, when the publicconfusion is avoided or it is not significant, the concurrent use of trademarks may beallowed under certain conditions. To some extent, the concurrent use of trademarkscan promote fair market competition while protect trademark owners’ interests.Nevertheless, owing to the registration principle in China, the concurrent use oftrademarks usually occurs in the form of individual cases, and it is not recommendedto extend its range of applications. Based on judicial practice, this thesis analyzed andconcluded national and international cases of concurrent used of trademarks first, thenpointed out the problems that exist in both judicial practice and theoretical circles, andfinally discussed the possibility and rules of concurrent use of trademarks accordingto the registration principle in China. Furthermore, on the basis of The Draft ofTrademark Law Amendment, this thesis proposed suggestions for addressing relatedissues and legislation as well.Both empirical and comparative analyses were adopted in this study, and the thesis can be divided into three parts, i.e., introduction, text, and conclusions.There are four chapters in the text.Chapter Ⅰ focused on empirical analyses of the concurrent use of trademarks. Inorder to give a comprehensive introduction of the concurrent use of trademarks injudicial practice, this thesis collected and organized all the relevant cases as far aspossible. Besides, after comparing the different judgments by the courts in these cases,it was found that the absence of unified standards had led to the low applicability andmisinterpret of the relevant rules. Moreover, the study on the theory of the concurrentuse of trademarks also revealed that there is misunderstanding of basic concepts inthis area in current research.Chapter Ⅱ studied the applicability possibility and factors of the concurrent useof trademarks. The naturally private right and effective market competition is themotivation of the concurrent use of trademarks. In judicial practice, the similarity oftrademark elements is always considered to be different from the similarity describedin the Trademark Law. This confusion, together with the tolerance of it, has promotedthe concurrent use of trademarks. To tackle the aforementioned problems, it isnecessary to establish unified standards based on the registration principle and judicialpractice at home and abroad.Chapter Ⅲ discussed the restrictions of the concurrent use of trademarks.Because the concurrent use of trademarks normally happens in special circumstanceaccording to the registration principle in China, the trademark owners should beinvestigated even they have already fulfilled the requirements to avoid any illegalextension use of trademarks. From the judgment view, here we suggested somegeneral and detailed restrictions for the evaluation and regulation of the concurrentuse of trademarks.Chapter Ⅳ offers several suggestions for the concurrent use of trademarks underthe registration principle. By analyzing the current application situation of lawsregarding to this issue, we suggest that the one premise of concurrent use oftrademarks should be honesty and reality. Otherwise it is not ‘concurrent use’. Inaddition, the possibility of any confusion that may be caused is also another basis. Moreover, we proposed some suggestions to solve the present problems in theapplication of the relevant laws. Last but not least, after referencing the national andinternational relevant laws, we drew up some rules for the evaluation and regulationof the concurrent use of trademarks.