[Trademark Act, Article 3(1)(iii)] Case No. 2025 (Gyo-ke) 10070

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Article information

Categories: Trademarks

Topics: Distinctiveness

Published on this website: 2026-09-29

[Trademark Act, Article 3(1)(iii)] Case No. 2025 (Gyo-ke) 10070

[Ethical Grain] (Presiding Judge Masuda)

The Japan Patent Office consistently wrote and interpreted "logical" (ronriteki), where it should have said "ethical" (rinriteki), in the core of its determination!!

⇒ Trial decision revoked.

(Excerpt from the judgment — translated)

Although the trial decision found in its determination that "ethical" means "ethical," etc., in the subsequent examples of use of "ethical" and its examination of the trademark, it held that the letters "ethical" give rise to the meaning "logical," and found, among other things, that the entire composition of the trademark gives rise to a vague meaning of approximately "logical grain." It therefore did not correctly examine the concept arising from the composition of the trademark.

https://lnkd.in/gai5kmKS

https://lnkd.in/gisvUe3a

hanrei-pdf-95278.pdf — courts.go.jp

Originally posted on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7510139550552252416/

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