Is there any connection between trademark rights and name rights?
The components of a trademark include visual signs such as words and letters. A name can only be composed of visual signs such as words and letters, and the trademark and name Both have distinguishing functions, and the overlap in their constituent elements and functions provides an objective possibility for rights conflicts between trademarks and names; on the other hand, with the development of the market economy, the commercial value of names, especially the names of celebrities, has gradually emerged. , the phenomenon of "surrogate celebrities" emerged in economic life.
Whether using celebrity names for trademark registration will infringe The key to a celebrity's legitimate prior name rights is to see whether the acquisition or exercise of the trademark right affects or hinders the exercise of the celebrity's name rights, with emphasis on whether it infringes on the celebrity's personal and property interests.
Personal interests are interests that satisfy the subject’s spiritual activities, and the protection of personality interests is reflected in the protection of personality rights. Personality rights are the rights of subjects to maintain personal dignity, personal independence, personal freedom, and personal equality, and are included in civil rights such as name rights, portrait rights, reputation rights, and privacy rights.
The right to name is a specific personality right. Infringement of the right of name, in addition to the perpetrator's interference, misappropriation, or counterfeiting of other people's names, should also objectively cause damage to the personal interests of others.the fact of loss. Using other people's names for trademark registration should not be prohibited by law as long as it does not harm the personal interests of others. Material interests, also called property interests, are the interests of a subject to maintain its life, production and participate in other social activities.
In modern society, the commercial value of celebrity names has It turns out that at this point, names and trademarks are similar in that they both have the functions of recognition, quality assurance and advertising. From this perspective, applying to register a celebrity's name as a trademark without the celebrity's consent may cause a conflict of rights between trademark rights and name rights, thereby infringing on the celebrity's property interests.
In trademark law, whether it is registration principles or The starting point of usage principles and trademark protection is to prevent confusion. One of the principles or criteria for determining whether there is a conflict of rights between intellectual property rights or between intellectual property rights and other rights, that is, whether there is confusion between rights.
Confusion in trademark law means that there has been or is likely to be Misrecognition of the source of goods or services and related parties can only occur between operators. Misunderstanding can only occur between different operators and cause confusion.
Use the name of a celebrity to register a trademark, as long as it does not affect the There will be no conflict of rights with respect to the loss of celebrity property interests. The following factors should be considered comprehensively to determine whether they are sufficient to cause loss of property interests of the celebrity: First, consider the goods or services on which the celebrity's name trademark is used; second, consider the current situation of commercial use of the celebrity's name; third, consider the relationship between the words in the trademark and The degree of relatedness between celebrities.
To sum up, when a celebrity’s name is used for trademark registration, conflicts between trademark rights and name rights mainly occur in four situations: first, it has an adverse impact on the personality and interests of the celebrity; second, it will cause conflicts between trademark rights and name rights. Celebrity name trademarks are used in fields related to the celebrity’s career and work; third, the celebrity has commercialized their name; fourth, the celebrity name and celebrity portrait are combined as a trademark logo to apply for registration.
I hope that through the above content you can have a deeper understanding of issues related to trademark rights and name rights. understanding. If your situation is more complex, this website also provides online lawyer consultation services, and you are welcome to have legal consultation.
