Trademark — IP High Court, 2023 (Gyo-Ke) 10050: “美容医局” (Biyō Ikyoku) (Shimizu Hibiki)
更新日：2 日前
Article information
Article type: Case note
Categories: Trademarks
Topics: Well-known and famous marks, Public order and morality
First published on this website: 2026-10-16
Display and classification checked: 2026-10-17
Case information: 2023 (Gyo-Ke) 10050
Trademark — IP High Court, 2023 (Gyo-Ke) 10050 (Shimizu Hibiki)
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 not relevant consumers.
⇒ Well-known status: established.
⇒ Violation of Article 4(1)(x) of the Trademark Act.
“Article 4(1)(vii) of the Trademark Act lists ‘a trademark likely to harm public order or morality’ as one category of trademarks that cannot be registered. This includes not only cases in which the composition of the trademark itself is contrary to public order or morality, but also cases in which, in light of the circumstances of the application for trademark registration, permitting registration would be markedly lacking in social propriety.”
⇒ “Considering also that, even in this litigation, the plaintiff has made the factually incorrect assertion that it did not know of the cited trademark and has proposed transferring the trademark for an extremely high price, it is natural to find that the plaintiff’s motive in applying to register the trademark at issue was to have a company under its control indicate that it would use that trademark to provide services of the same kind as the services at issue, thereby confusing consumers, and to await a protest from the defendant so as to secure a transaction on terms favorable to itself.”
⇒ Violation of Article 4(1)(vii) of the Trademark Act.
(The proposal during the litigation to transfer the trademark for payment was used as one of the reasons!!)
Originally published: 2025-03-03
Original Japanese post: https://ameblo.jp/hideki-takaishi/entry-12888476433.html
Update history
This history records actual publication, display, and classification changes made on this website.
2026-10-16: The AMEBLO source was first published on this website.
2026-10-17: Added classification, topic tags, article information, translation navigation, related articles, consultation guidance, and SEO. The original article text was not changed.
