Trade Mark - SpeedyLook encyclopedia

The trade mark or registered trademark is a distinctive sign, a word or a group words, making it possible the depositor (a Nobody or a company) to be able to make known, or to recognize through a product, a whole of dependant characteristics:

with the Owner,
with the manufacturer,
with supposed or real quality,
with a means of manufacture,
with a component,
etc

The trade mark is often related to a logo and sometimes on a Brevet.

Juridically, a trade mark is distinguished from a registered trademark because the latter is a legal recognition, whereas the first can be a recognition due to the perenniality of a product, a judgment of court or any other action recognized within the framework of a Civil society.

Trade-mark law

The marks have a legal mode defined by national rules in each country. On the international plan, there simultaneously exist conventions allowing protection in several countries.

They are one of the rights of Industrial property and can cover a great economic value.

A mark is protected by the Loi as well as AOC for the wines.

The article L. 711-1 of the Code of the intellectual property lays out that: “The trademark, of trade or service is a likely sign of chart being used to distinguish the products or services from a natural person or morale.
Can in particular constitute such a sign:

denominations in all the forms such as: words, assemblies of words, names patronymic and geographical, pseudonyms, letters, figures, initials;
sound signs such as: sounds, musical sentences;
figurative signs such as: drawings, labels, seals, edges, reliefs, holograms, logos, synthesized images; forms, in particular those of the product or its conditioning or those characterizing a service; provisions, combinations or nuances of couleurs.

Initials to show that a mark is recorded

One places the initials ® of English " registered" after the mark. Example: My marque®. It should well be specified that in France and in the European Union, the affixing of such initials is not obligatory, and does not have any legal value.

It is advisable to distinguish according to whether the mark is officially recorded or at the stage from the deposit. In this second case, the use of the ® proves to be untrue, because the mark, as such, is not recorded. The use of TM is advised more here: it makes it possible to inform the thirds that exclusive rights rest on the sign in question, without affirming in an erroneous way which it makes the object of a recording.

Deposit

Canada

The mark is lodged with the Office of the intellectual property of Canada.

The United States

The mark is lodged with USPTO.

Passage in the current language

Certain marks became common nouns like Caddie , Frigidaire , Kleenex , Scotch tape or Walkman (replaced little by little in the French language by Baladeur).

Types of mark for the example

In this section, we propose to the reader a small educational exercise.

Which mark would you give to a delicacy crunching with the chocolate intended for the children from 6 to 12?

One can propose three marks:

1 mark promise => chococroc or crocola (something is promised to you)
1 mark targets => small child (a particular market is aimed at)
1 mark universe => récré (to consume the product modifies the behavior of the consumer or the perception of its environment)

Types of mark

One can distinguish 5 principal types of marks:

the mark of distributer
the collective mark
the mark of range
the mark sunshade
the mark guarantee

Mark-product

It associates a name and a promise specific to a product.

Examples: Ariel, Vizier, Dash, Zest, Camay, Monsavon, Badoit, Fruity, Evian.

Branduit

The term “branduit” is a contraction of English “brand” (mark) and “produced” proposed by Jean-Louis Swiners in 1977, at the time of a communication made to the IREP (Research institute and Advertizing Studies). It indicates in great consumption, a mark-product, i.e. an offered product by only one company, under the responsibility of a product manager (in English: brand-manager) whom one can identify only by his mark. There is coîncidence of the generic denomination and the specific denomination.

He associates a single formula (trade secret or patent), a form, a name of mark, a conditioning.

Examples: a Refrigerator, a Ricard

Mark-sunshade

It indicates a mark which gathers other marks.

Examples: Accor is the mark sunshade, it gathers other marks: Formulate 1, Novotel….

Mark-line

It gathers under the same name of the products which are addressed to particular customers and profit from a specific promise.

Examples: Chanel, Poison (perfume)

Mark-guarantee

It is related to several complex ranges of products, and comes in complement from other marks to authenticate the product.

Examples: {Danone, Dany, Danette}, {Gillette, Gill, Contour}

Scratch

It is about the signature of an original creation. The territory of the claw is expressed compared to a recognized competence and a style.

Examples: Yves the St. Lawrence, Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Menzakine

E-mark

The E-mark term is the term used to indicate a mark designed on Internet. Proposed by Nathalie Ramonda in 2007, at the time of a study on the management of the mark via new technologies at the University of Sherbrooke.

Examples: Heads with opera hats, Dell, E-bay, Amazon

Management of the mark

Alliances of mark

Below some examples of alliances of mark:

- codéveloppement : two firms collaborate in order to develop a new mark (ex: Mercedes and Swatch for Smart)

- united publicity : a firm inserts a mark, a logo, a recommendation of another mark, often being located on the Marché surrounding or the market support (ex: Dell recommends Google)

- coupled promotion : this form of promotion per batch is often found on the market of the current consumer goods such as the food one (ex: Bacardi rum sold with a bottle of Coca-Cola)

- functional codenomination : two firms join to create a product marketed under the two names of mark (ex: chocolate mousse Yoplait/Gold Coast)

- conceptual codenomination : two firms join to associate an brand image with an existing product (ex: Clio Bitch)

Mark and capital immaterial

The mark is an element of valorization of the companies. Methods evaluation exist, with what one calls the Goodwill. More recent work on the immaterial Capital aims also to evaluate the marks in a relatively standardized way.

The Domain names

Right of use or property right

Contrary to the marks, there does not exist to date any code of the Droit as regards Domain names. The absence of Law and precise regulation feeds the discussions around the legal status of the Domain name.

AFNIC chose to allot the Domain names .fr and Re by respecting the principle of territoriality and identification of all the holders. It for that chose to work out a charter of naming for each managed extension. Attention however, the AFNIC does not have the role the search for former rights related to the use of a mark corresponding to a Domain name.

This is only one aspect of the Gouvernance of Internet.

The Jurisprudence in France

The use of a Domain name which would undermine the owner of a mark can be sanctioned either for counterfeit or for parasitic dealing. On the assumption that domain name is deposited before with the mark and is exploited, the owner of the Domain name can be opposed to the recording mark. Jurisprudence admitted this opposition only in businesses where the bad faith of the agent of the mark was shown.

See too

INPI
Cartography of the marks
Marks used like names
List of the marks of linen room
Brand image
Model deposited
List of French inventions

External bonds

'' the Decoding of the right ''
On the trade mark, very detailed page
Blog of information and current events in trade-mark law
IP Dragon is focused on the intellectual property in China
On the nontraditional registered trademarks, of Ralf Sieckmann
the small Museum of the Marks: Blog on the trade-mark law

Simple: Trademark

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