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Summary Lecture 3 - Trademark Law I
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Lecture of optional course Intellectual Property Law of Master Rechtsgeleerdheid Tilburg University. Contains everything lecturer has said during lectures.
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Lecture 3 - Trademark Law IA trademark helps you distinguish in order to say from which company it comes, what quality it
represents and what goodwill is behind the brand. For some companies, a trademark is the most
valuable asset. Since it’s everywhere, it is omnipresent. Primary function is indication of origin
because it’s an essential part of competition since companies should be able to distinguish their
products from those of another. You want to make sure you get the real brand and no knock-off.
There is a balance because if a trademark becomes too strong, you’re creating a distortion.
Protection of investment after investing in marketing etc. can be done through trademark. Example
is CJEU L’Oréal/Bellure case. Easier consumer confusion comes with the internet, so especially in the
internet age the branding is important since customer can’t touch or see the bag in real.
Paris Convention is a convention having all union countries that decided to create a minimum
protection. It doesn’t create uniform rules for trademarks but gives a minimum standard. It’s not
uniform, there is not one worldwide trademark since countries have different protection regimes.
TRIPS Agreement gives even higher level of protection which all WTO members are member to.
Madrid Agreement & Madrid Protocol concern protection on international trademarks so are more
detailed. No universal trademark but a bundle of international trademark rights valid in the different
countries. This central registration goes through WIPO, and they are based on national registration. A
company starts in one country and then builds by adding more countries. For a certain amount of
time, you can still profit from the priority date of the oldest/first application in for example the
Benelux. This also gives an opportunity to take the entire international trademark registration with it
if for instance the Benelux trademark is taken down, so this is a disadvantage. Still have to deal with
all national rights and registrations.
In the EU, there is one European unitary trademark (EU trademark regulation 2015), apply for it once
and there is a unitary regime of protection throughout the EU, done through the EUIPO. The
Directive gives certain rules that need to be implemented, so it’s a harmonization of national
trademark law. The Directive only deals with significant issues, so much left to national legislators
and only deals with registered trademarks. Talking about trademarks almost always means a
registered one, so you can find it in a national or international registers. Non-registered trademarks
(exception) can be so known that they’re protected under the article 6bis Paris Convention. Anti-
piracy regulation deals with counterfeit, giving some tools to trademark owners to stop this. The
Enforcement Directive is not only related to trademark and it regulates is what can you do with it; go
to court, get an injunction or get damages.
Dutch trademark law doesn’t exist, we have Benelux trademark law. You have it for the entire
Benelux and it’s not possible to divide it. This goes through the BOIP and it means that the trademark
Directive has to be implemented into the Benelux Convention. For specific details and other matter
not regulated by the Benelux Convention such as trademark transfer, you fall back on national laws.
Requirement of use is there to prevent that you have it not use it and block it forever. If you don’t
use it in five years, a third party can question the use of your trademark can ask it to be cancelled
since you didn’t use it. It will become free to others to use. Trademark protection can be extended
indefinitely as it should be there as long as your company exists. There are many limitations and the
CJEU is looking at it with eagle eyes; what are you trying to block perhaps forever, is this fair from the
view of fair competition?
It depends on what kind of trademark you deal with, but generally you go to the General Court EU
and ECJ decide after referral by national courts or by the EUIPO. On a national level, the EU
trademark can only be reviewed in specialized courts in the MS; The Hague. For the Benelux
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