Fair Use of a Registered Trademark does not Constitute Infringement

Abstract: fair use of a registered trademark does not constitute infringement, but users shall both have no intent to infringe and accord with the objective facts. The court facing those cases shall apply  Trademark Law to consider the original intention of Trademark Law instead of applying a rigid formula to determine that the infringement shall rely on “whether the results cause confusion”.

(By Luo Yanjie) Generally speaking, using a registered trademark without permission constitutes trademark infringement. However, a few exceptions to the general rule still exist. For example, in today’s post a typical case will be introduced.

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Analysis on Trademark Infringement Case of Adidas

20130214-周四

 (By Luo Yanjie) In 2001, the globally known sportswear brand Adidas acquired a trademark certificate issued by the Trademark Office of the State Administration of Industry and Commerce (“SAIC”), namely a certificate numbered 1489454 for the “three slants” trademark, which was approved in Class 25 for clothing, ball shoes, hats, socks and other similar products; in addition, the certificate numbered 1536558 for the “three slants” trademark was approved in Class 18, which covers bags, clothing case, traveling bags and belts. On June 21 2003, Adidas transferred the trademarks to its affiliates.

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