The JPO’s Trademark Appeal Board has rendered a decision that a trademark application filed by our firm should be registered on the grounds that the applied-for trademark has become 'well-known'.
The Japanese Patent Office (JPO’s) Trademark Appeal Board has rendered a decision that a trademark application filed by our firm should be registered on the grounds that the applied-for trademark has become well-known among consumers through use by the applicant, based on Trademark Law Article 3(2).
This case relates to an application in which the trademark is the house mark of a famous confectionery company in Hokkaido. The case started in 2008, when the company filed a trademark application with the JPO using the system that allows a trademark using standard characters to be registered.
Trademark registration using standard characters is the system in which an applied-for trademark is registered under the following conditions: (i) a trademark to be filed for registration is formed by characters only; (ii) the applicant does not file a special request regarding the appearance of the applied-for trademark; and (iii) the applied-for trademark can be registered using the characters with a typeface that was designated and publicised in advance by the JPO commissioner.
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Trademark registration, JPO, well-known marks, standard characters
