What are the provisions for the protection of well-known trademarks and under what circumstances they will not be recognized
In the following civil dispute cases, the People’s Court Whether the trademark involved is well-known will not be reviewed:
(一) The establishment of the alleged infringement of trademark rights or unfair competition is not based on the fact that the trademark is well-known;
(2) The alleged infringement of trademark rights or unfair competition is not established because other elements stipulated by law are not met.
The plaintiff used the domain name registered and used by the defendant and its registered trademark The same or similar e-commerce transactions of related goods through the domain name are enough to cause the relevant public to misunderstand and initiate an infringement lawsuit, which shall be handled in accordance with the provisions of item (1) of the preceding paragraph.
Judicial PracticeIn practice, it is necessary to identify a well-known trademark only when the well-known trademark is a legal matter that constitutes the alleged infringement of trademark rights or unfair competition. At the same time, in order to prevent parties from simply obtaining judicial recognition of well-known trademarks and improperly pursuing other meanings other than legal protection, judicial practice has always followed the principle of on-demand recognition, emphasizing that the recognition of well-known trademarks must be necessary for the trial of the case, and strictly grasp the well-known trademarks The scope of judicial determination. In view of this, in order to follow the principle of on-demand determination and standardize and unify the scope of judicial determination, on the basis of summarizing trial experience, Article 2 of the Judicial Interpretation stipulates the types of civil dispute cases that require the recognition of well-known trademarks, and in Article 3 It stipulates the circumstances under which well-known trademarks do not need to be recognized, and limits the scope of application of judicial recognition of well-known trademarks from different perspectives. That is to say, well-known trademarks can only be recognized in civil dispute cases involving cross-class protection of well-known registered trademarks, requests to stop infringement of well-known unregistered trademarks, and civil disputes involving trademark infringement and unfair competition involving conflicts between corporate names and well-known trademarks.
I would like to emphasize here that in the draft judicial interpretation, it was stipulated that "litigation filed on the grounds that the registered and used domain name is the same as or similar to a well-known trademark" can also be recognized as a well-known trademark, and in The relevant provisions have been deleted from the judicial interpretation published this time. The main consideration is that as long as the plaintiff’s registered trademark has a certain degree of popularity and the defendant’s registration and use of an identical or similar domain name is enough to mislead the relevant public, it can be determined to constitute trademark infringement or unfair competition, and the plaintiff’s rights can be protected and relieved. , there is no need to identify a well-known trademark as a prerequisite. Since it is relatively easy to apply for and register a domain name, if the recognition of a well-known trademark is used as a prerequisite to resist the registration or use of such domain names, it is easy for the parties to register the domain name "on their own" and file a lawsuit to seek the recognition of a well-known trademark, which is a deliberate "set up". The purpose of identifying well-known trademarks. Such phenomena have been criticized by many relevant parties. In view of this, it is unnecessary to continue to follow the judicial interpretation of domain names and identify well-known trademarks in such cases, and it is easy to be abused.
Moreover, the judicial recognition of well-known trademarks is in individual cases. The identification of legal elements and facts required to protect well-known trademark rights falls within the scope of fact identification. In order to minimize the opportunity for parties to use the identification of well-known trademarks to pursue other illegitimate interests, in civil dispute cases involving the protection of well-known trademarks, the People's CourtThe determination that a trademark is well-known will only be used as case facts and reasons for judgment, and will not be included in the main text of the judgment; if the case is concluded through mediation, the fact that the trademark is well-known will not be recognized in the mediation letter.
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