Trademark Law Revision Sheet

1. 📌 Essentials

• Trademark: Sign capable of graphical representation used to distinguish goods/services.
• Functions: Identify origin, guarantee quality, promote brand.
• Absolute grounds for refusal: Lack of distinctiveness, descriptiveness, deception.
• Relative grounds for refusal: Prior rights, reputation, unfair advantage.
• Likelihood of confusion: risk of consumers mistaking one mark for another.
• Reputable trademarks: Well known, recognized by significant public segment.
• Legal sources: Trademark Directive 2015/2436, CJEU case law.
• Infringement: Use of identical or similar signs for same/similar goods causing confusion or link.
• Similarity assessment: Visual, phonetic, conceptual.
• Goods/services assessment: Nature, end users, competition, complementarity.
• Exceptions to specialty: Use of reputation for different goods/services if unfair.
• Reputed markers can obstruct similar signs even if not identical.
• Prior rights typically do not include patents.
• Reputation can be territorial and time-dependent.
• Signs are identical if same or minor differences; similar if close.
• Confusion likelihood depends on consumer perception, familiarity, and sign similarity.
• Legal standards from Sabel, Canon, Lloyd, Arsenal cases.

2. 🧩 Key Structures & Components

• Trademark — Sign representing goods/services.
• Distinctiveness — Key for registration; can be inherent or acquired.
• Reputation — Recognition by substantial part of public.
• Prior trademarks — Existing rights that can block registration.
• Sign types — Word marks, logos, slogans, shapes.
• Legal grounds — Absolute (e.g., lacking distinctiveness) and relative (e.g., prior rights).
• Infringement — Use of similar or identical signs causing confusion or unfair advantage.
• Assessment criteria — Sign similarity, goods similarity, consumer perception.
• Legal sources — European Directive and case law.

3. 🔬 Functions, Mechanisms & Relationships

• Sign registration depends on meeting criteria of distinctiveness and legality.
• Assessment of confusion considers similarity of signs and goods, plus consumer perception.
• Reputation enhances protection; a well-known mark can prevent similar signs even on non-identical signs.
• Absolute grounds reject signs lacking function or being deceptive.
• Relative grounds prevent confusingly similar marks infringing prior rights.
• Likelihood of confusion arises when consumers link signs/products from the same origin.
• Reputation can extend protection territorially and temporally.
• Unfair advantage occurs if a sign links or damages a famous mark without consent.
• Legal cases (Sabel, Canon, Lloyd, Arsenal) establish principles.
• Exceptions to restrictions include using a famous mark’s reputation for different goods if not harmful or unfair.

4. Comparative Table

5. 🗂️ Hierarchical Diagram

Trademark Law
 ├─ Functions & Criteria
 │   ├─ Registration criteria (distinctiveness, graphical)
 │   ├─ Grounds for refusal
 │   │   ├─ Absolute: Not fitting, descriptive
 │   │   └─ Relative: Prior rights, reputation
 │   └─ Infringement
 │       ├─ Signs identical or similar
 │       ├─ Cause confusion or unfair advantage
 │       └─ Reputation influence
 ├─ Legal Principles & Case Law
 │   ├─ Sabel (1997): Similar signs cause confusion
 │   └─ Canon (1998): Reputation extends protection
 └─ Assessment parameters
     ├─ Sign similarity (visual, phonetic, conceptual)
     └─ Goods similarity (nature, end user, use)

6. ⚠️ High-Yield Pitfalls & Confusions

• Confusing "similarity" with "identity" — not always identical signs are infringing.
• Overestimating the scope of patent rights in trademark disputes.
• Underestimating the significance of consumer perception.
• Assuming reputation provides automatic, unlimited protection.
• Mixing absolute and relative grounds without proper legal basis.
• Overlooking the territorial and temporal limits of reputation.
• Misjudging the effects of using a famous mark for different goods.
• Ignoring the legal case law guiding interpretation.

7. ✅ Final Exam Checklist

• Define what a trademark is and its functions.
• Differentiate absolute and relative grounds for refusal.
• Understand how to assess similarity of signs (visual, phonetic, conceptual).
• Recognize the importance of reputation and how it influences protection.
• Explain the principle of "likelihood of confusion."
• Know what constitutes infringement and the scope of protected signs.
• Recall key case law (Sabel, Canon, Lloyd, Arsenal).
• Understand the concept of unfair advantage and reputation extension.
• Identify when prior rights block registration.
• Comprehend the exceptions to the principle of specialty.
• Be familiar with assessing goods/services similarity.
• Explain how territoriality affects reputation.
• Understand how to evaluate confusion risk in practical scenarios.
• Know the criteria for a sign to be registrable.
• Recognize common mistakes in trademark classification and infringement.
• Prepare to analyze signs and goods carefully during exam questions.
• Remember the importance of consumer perception in the legal assessment.

End of Revision Sheet