Preview
Legal context
The owner of arguably the world's most famous rock logo, the Rolling Stones’ famous tongue and lips mark, suffered a stunning trade mark opposition setback after the Intellectual Property High Court of Japan (IPHCJ) revoked a favorable opposition decision on the basis that a junior lips and tongue mark is not liable to cause confusion amongst rock music consumers.
Key points and practical significance
The IPHCJ case underscores the supremacy of consumer confusion for trade mark similarity determination and the weight that the IPHCJ places on the expertise and sophistication of class of consumers no matter how iconically famous the senior mark may be. The article also highlights the procedural pitfalls and strategic shortcomings in Japan's trade mark opposition system and why brand owners will be better served by using its invalidation appeal system to police competitors’ trade marks in the world's second largest economy, Japan.
Journal Article. 6932 words.
Subjects: intellectual property law ; arbitration
Go to Oxford Journals » abstract
full text: subscription required