With the need to assert ownership of their trademarks as well as the desire to be protected by the State for such trademarks, many enterprises start to learn and submit trademark registration applications. However, after a period of time, enterprises receive rejection decisions for using similar trademarks to other people's trademarks. So what is it like to use similar trademarks as other people’s trademarks? Let's find out about this content through the following article:
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In the context of increasingly fierce market competition, the construction, development and seizure of every bit of market share have been becoming more difficult. Therefore, trademarks of enterprises may easily fall into legal risks. In particular, it is impossible not to mention the fact that trademarks of enterprises are rejected for protection because they are similar and confusing with other trademarks that have been registered before. Accordingly, each enterprise needs to equip themselves with legal knowledge to avoid being rejected due to using similar trademarks to other people's trademarks, as well as protecting their interests when there is an infringement of using similar trademarks of their own.
According to Point c, Article 39.8 of Circular 01/2007/TT-BKHCN, the use of similar trademarks to other people’s trademarks is the use of signs that are considered to be similar to reference trademarks to confuse if:
+ The signs are closely similar to the reference trademarks in structures or/and contents or/and pronunciations or/and meanings or/and forms of expression so that consumers may mistakenly believe that two objects are one, one object is a variation of the other or two objects have the same origin;
+ The signs are only transliterations or translations of reference trademarks if the reference trademarks are well-known trademarks.
According to Clause 15, Article 11 of Decree 99/2013/ND-CP, acts of using similar trademarks to other people’s trademarks may be fined from 10,000,000 VND to 20,000,000 VND. In addition, it also depends on the nature and extent of the infringement, it may be handled by criminal or civil measures.
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According to Clause 1, Article 200 of the current Intellectual Property Law, jurisdictions for handling acts of using similar trademarks to other people’s trademarks include the following agencies: Court, Inspectorate, Market Management, Customs, Police and People's Committees at all levels.
According to Clause 1, Article 129 of the current Intellectual Property Law, acts of using trademarks with the same name are considered to be the use of similar trademarks to other people’s trademarks if they are used for the same type of goods or services.
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Acts of using similar trademarks to other people’s trademarks can be criminally prosecuted if they bring illegal profits of 100,000,000 VND to less than 300,000,000 VND or cause damages to the trademark owners or geographical indications of 200,000,000 VND to less than 500,000,000 VND or the infringing goods have a value of 200,000,000 VND to less than 500,000,000 VND.
Any person who is infringed upon his/her intellectual property rights can sue for acts of using similar trademarks to other people’s trademarks.
Above is information to answer questions about using similar trademarks to other people' trademarks that NPLAW expects to send to our readers. If you have any related questions that need further clarification, please contact NPLAW at the following contact information:
NGOC PHU LAW COMPANY LIMITED
Hotline: 0913449968
Email: legal@nplaw.vn
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