| Commercial signs and approved product are the basis for determining the scope of protection of registered trademarks.With the continuous development of economy and society,the types and markets of commodities are constantly changing.However,the classification of commodities is not clear,and the scope of approved product of registered trademarks is not clear too,which cause a strange legal phenomenon that when one party sue with trademark right,the other side would defend with another register trademark.This phenomenon in judicial practice is becoming more and more common.There are four parts in this paper except the introduction.The first part introduce that,in the case of trademark infringement of "Laoyaer",due to the unclear classification of goods,both parties hold registered trademarks to court,which is a typical conflict of rights between registered trademarks.There are a number of similar cases,such as the "Dushulang" trademark case,the "Gelisi" trademark case and the "11315" trademark case.There are three common problems in these trademark disputes: 1.What are the characteristics and root causes of the conflict of registered trademark rights caused by the unclear classification of commodities? 2.What procedures should apply to the settlement of similar disputes? 3.What rules should be applied to respond to similar disputes?The second part points out that classification of goods is the process of classifying commodities according to their classification principles and basis of division into a similar commodity and service division table.It is the division of the scope of the rights of registered trademark rights.The conflicts of rights of registered trademarks caused by the unclear classification of commodities have the characteristics of similar signs,appearance of legal rights,conflict of rights,and unclear classifications of goods.Subjectively,the competition among the right holders is caused by the commercial goodwill and the scarcity of the symbol itself.Objectively,because of the legal characteristics of the trademark right,the lag of the trademark and the fuzziness of the language,together led to such disputes.The third part proposes that,concerning the procedure,in principle,in order to ensure the unity and authority of the authorization,it should be handled by thetrademark administrative department.But the obligee can still and submit it to the court for adjudication by the cause of going beyond the approved scope of use.When the dispute is handled concretely,in administrative proceedings,the obligee may,through administrative tort investigation,apply to the SAIC for recognition of the classification,or by filing an application for revocation for three years unused.The trademark administrative department determines whether the commodity falls within the scope of its right.Or,by applying for invalidation of the other trademark directly because the other trademark is defective,the right holders can solve the problem once and for all.In civil proceedings,the obligee may sue only on the grounds of the other party’s irregular use,and the court will also try only on this.Considering that the administrative procedure is often long and may eventually have to be examined by the court,this paper suggests that the court should be allowed to accept such disputes if the administrative organ fails to deal with them within a certain period of time and the parties have no objection.Part forth explains that,in view of the causes mentioned above,the author suggests the application of the legal interpretation method,which means the comprehensive use of various legal interpretation methods to interpret the "Nice classification" to clarify the meaning of the commodity.In view of the subjective reasons mentioned above,the author proposes to use the method of adding appropriate distinguishing marks to ease the conflict of interest between the two sides,to ensure the interests of both sides’ trademark owners while safeguarding the interests of consumers.Finally,In view of the fact that the existing rules cannot be solved,it is suggested that the value of the two trademark rights should be chosen by using the basic principles of intellectual property rights,and then the classification of goods should be determined,and then the solution should be given to resolve a dispute. |
