Research On Application Of "Relatedness" In Identification Of Similar Goods Or Services

How to identify similar goods or services is a common problem for trademark administrative authorities and judicial authorities,so it’s of great significance to make a study about it.Considering the relatedness of the goods or services is one of the ways to identify whether they are similar or not.Although the application of "relatedness" in identification of similar goods or services has legal basis,there are some problems about it due to the vague relevant provisions.For example,the meaning of “relatedness” is unclear,the application of it just plays a little role and is not fully justified while the rules of the application of“relatedness” is not clear.To solve these problems,it’s necessary to analyze the necessity of the application of “relatedness” and improve the rules of the application of “relatedness” on the basis of clarifying the meaning of "relatedness" and its legal position.There are many viewpoints about the meaning of “relatedness” in practice and academia,which has not been reached a consensus.From the perspective of the development of theory,the analysis of the meaning of "relatedness" can focus on American trademark legal practice and theory.American courts assess the relatedness of goods or services through a tool consisting of proximity of the goods or services and likelihood of natural expansion.Accordingly,the meaning of “relatedness” refers to the relationship that goods or services compete with each other to a certain extent,or from the perspective of the relevant public,the senior user tends to expand the scope of production and business to that of the junior user.In order to reflect the comprehensiveness of the meaning of "relatedness" and make the relevant provisions coordinated and unified,the relatedness of the goods or services should be positioned as the essence of similar goods or services.The necessity of the application of "relatedness" in identification of similar goods or services lies in that it can cover the shortages of Table for Differentiating Similar Goods and Services and overcome the logical contradiction caused by considering likelihood of confusion in identification of similar goods or services.It is necessary to clarify the factors that should be considered in the application of“relatedness” and what degree the relatedness of the goods or services should be,so as to improve the rules of the application of “relatedness” in identification of similar goods or services.To determine what extent the goods or services compete with each other,the nature and the geographical zone of the goods or services and the habits and cognition of relevant public should be taken into account.And what should be considered to determine likelihood of natural expansion are the non-competitive relationship of the goods or services,the distinctiveness and reputation of the trademark and the overall expansion trend of the industry.The degree of “relatedness” should not be too high at the macro level for the purpose of coordinating the relationship between the steps of trademark infringement determination.At the micro level,there is no apparent requirement of the degree of competition between the goods or services,while the degree of likelihood of natural expansion needs to reach a high level.