The Judgment And Limitation Of Prior Right To Use Trademark

Trademark is the identification of products, which indicates where the product or service comes from. Since trademarks, as the core carrier of the image of a company, can bring continued growth of profits during a long period in the increasingly competitive market, the status and function of trademark in market competition are getting more important. However, more and more cases of trademark cybersquatting arise, which threatens the healthy development and orderly competition of markets. In order to balance the interest between trademark holders and holders of prior right to use trademark and protect the latter, the third revision of the Trademark law (2013) developed the prior right to use trademark system. However, it is a new system without corresponding judicial interpretations, and there are different understandings among courts in practice, so it is necessary to give deep research to the standard and principles of judgment, and the limitation of the prior right to use trademark, which can define it accurately.This thesis will focus on the issue of implication of the prior right to use trademark in trademark disputes cases, which is based on the Jiang Youji trademark case. The main body of this thesis includes three parts, beside the introduction and conclusion.Part one will introduce the Jiang Youji trademark case and summarize the main points of disputes;Part two is the legal analysis of the disputes. First, based on the rules and spirit of the legislation of Trademark Law(2013), and by studying the standard and principles of judgment of the prior right to use trademark, the analysis will concentrate on whether the food company is entitled the prior right to use ’Jiang Youji’ trademark. Secondly, in the light of the rationality of limiting the prior right to use trademarks, by studying the content of limitation of the prior right to use trademarks, combined with the Jiang Youji case, the next part will give detailed analysis of the limitation of the prior right to use trademark performed by the defendant, Nanjing Fuzimiao Company.Part three will identify several parts to be improved of the existing the prior right to use trademark system and provide some advice and countermeasures, in terms of the standard of judgment, principles of judgment, the limitation of prior right to use trademark, and the construction of co-existence of trademark.The academia has been proposing the prior right to use trademark for a long time and it has been established by the third revision of the Trademark law (2013). The next core question is how to apply it correctly in practice. It is hoped that the case study in this thesis will bring some light to the understanding the theory of prior right to use trademark itself and its application in judicial practice.