Japanese trademark law

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Japanese trademark law is mainly enacted by the Trademark Act (商標法, Shōhyō-hō^?) of 1959. Under Japanese trademark law, only registered trademarks establish a trademark right (Article 18), and examination procedure is necessary for trademarks to be registered (Article 14). A person first to file an application may obtain the registration for a trademark over a prior user of the same trademark (Article 8).

Protection for unregistered well-known trademarks is carried out by the Unfair Competition Prevention Act (不正競争防止法, Fusei kyōsō bōshi-hō^?) of 1993.

	Goods/services identical to it is	Goods/services similar to it is	Goods/services neither identical nor similar to it is
Use of mark identical to registered trademark for	Infringement of trademark right in terms of Trademark Act		Unfair competition in terms of Unfair Competition Prevention Act, if the registered trademark is well-known and the use is creating confusion, or if the registered trademark is famous
Use of mark similar to registered trademark for
use of mark neither identical nor similar to registered trademark for	Fair

	Goods/services identical to it is	Goods/services similar to it is	Goods/services neither identical nor similar to it is
Use of mark identical to unregistered trademark for	Unfair competition in terms of Unfair Competition Prevention Act, if the unregistered trademark is well-known and the use is creating confusion, or if the unregistered trademark is famous
Use of mark similar to unregistered trademark for
Use of mark neither identical nor similar to unregistered trademark for	Fair

[edit] English translation

Japanese government is now preparing an "unofficial" English translation of some fundamental statutes. The translation of the Unfair Competition Prevention Act is available, and the translation of the Trademark Act will soon become available, from the Cabinet Secretariat's website [1].