Patent Case Law and Intellectual Property Practice Blog

日本語原文 / Japanese original Article information Article type: Case note Category: Trademarks Topics: Distinctiveness, Well-known and famous marks First published on this website: 2026-11-01 Display and classification checked: November 2, 2026 Originally published on Ameblo: 2025-06-15 (Japan time). Full English translation. https://ameblo.jp/hideki-takaishi/entry-12910640633.html [Trademark] 2023 (Gyo-Ke) 10131, “hololive Indonesia” <Miyasaka> *“hololive Indonesia” violates Tr

日本語原文 / Japanese original Article information Article type: Case note Category: Trademarks, Unfair competition law Topics: Well-known and famous marks, Indications of goods or business First published on this website: 2026-11-01 Display and classification checked: November 2, 2026 Originally published on Ameblo: 2024-07-01 (Japan time). Full English translation. https://ameblo.jp/hideki-takaishi/entry-12858278614.html “Dr. Martens' Yellow Stitching” [Trademark] 2023 (Gyo-Ke)

* Article 3(2) applied to the three-dimensional trademark for a Shin Godzilla figurine. (Excerpts from the decision) The three-dimensional shape of Shin Godzilla differs in overall proportions from earlier Godzilla characters: the head is smaller, the thinness of the forelimbs (a

The trademark at issue: “美容医局” (Biyō Ikyoku; designated services: employment placement and others). The relevant consumers are “physicians in cosmetic surgery or cosmetic dermatology.” Physicians with no possibility of changing jobs to cosmetic surgery or cosmetic dermatology are

Violation of Article 5(ii) of the Design Act (a design likely to cause confusion with an article pertaining to another person’s business). ① The padlock attached at the upper center of the design has the characteristics of Hermès’ H trademark, Registration No. 5864813, which styl

Read the Japanese version / 日本語版を読む Article information Article type: Publication review Categories: Other foreign jurisdictions Topics: Well-known and famous marks, Confusion First published on this website: 2026-10-16 Display/classification checked: 2026-10-19 [Article / Austrian Trademarks] Protection of well-known trademarks and unfair use through packaging imitation: Lessons from the Jägermeister case (遠藤華英, Patent, November 2025) A judgment of the Austrian Supreme Court

Invalidation not established (Trademark Act Article 4(1)(x), (xv)) Well-known status of the cited “SCANTEC” mark: Not established (1) Domestic market share

1. Interpreting “confusion in the broad sense” Item (i) includes both narrow confusion (mistaken belief in identical source) and broad confusion (mistaken belief in a relationship between sources). Since item (ii) was created, regulation of dilution/free riding without confusion should be left to item (ii), while confusion under item (i) should be assessed concretely and substantively.

[AFURI / Afuri] (Presiding Judge Hasegawa) ⇒ Similar (violation of Article 4(1)(xi) of the Trademark Act). (1) Similarity of concept:

Osaka District Court, Case No. 2024 (Wa) 12861 [Chidoriya] (Presiding Judge Matsuami) *Status as an indication of goods or business denied.