Trade Mark Act: Prevent Illegal Behaviors

Submitted By MiaoLuo
Words: 4916
Pages: 20

Business Law—Dissertation for Mid-term
Trade Mark Act (1994) Prevent Illegal Behaviours

Luo miao 6198862

April 7, 2012

Table of Contents

Part Ⅰ: Introduction……………………………………………………………………………...…3
Part Ⅱ: Background Information……………………………………………………………………3
Part Ⅲ: Relevant Regulations and Impact On Digital Industy……..……………………………. 4
Part Ⅳ: Conclusions……………………………………………..…………………………………....6
Part Ⅴ: Recommendations……………………………………..…………………………………… 6
Part Ⅵ : Appendix……………………………………………..……………………………………..8
Appendix 1-Additional Information……………….……………………...…………….8
Appendix 2-Case Law Fact…………………..…….……………………………………8
Appendix A-Trade Mark Act 1994…………………………………………….....……10 Appendix B--Defamation Act 1952 (c66)……….………..……………….…..….........15
Part Ⅶ: Case Dictionary……………………………………………………….…………….….......16
Part Ⅷ: Statute Dictionary……………………………………….…………………………….…...16
Part Ⅸ: References & Database Links………………………………….………………….……....16
References…………..………………………………………………….………….......16
Database Links……………………………….…………………………………........17

Part Ⅰ: Introduction
On February 23, 2012, the US basketball icon Michael Jordan sued Chinese sportswear and shoe manufacturer Qiaodan Sports Company Limited over the "unauthorized use" of his name and identity, as "Qiaodan" is a Chinese transliteration of Jordan's name (chinadaily, 2012). On April 6, Qiaodan Sports was charged 50 million RMB (sohu, 2012). It is obvious that the registration of company’s trade mark does not comply with Section 3 of Trade Marks Act 1994 (TMA) due to indistinctiveness. (See Appendix A)
This report is intended to point out illegal behaviours conducted by merchants who take advantage of trade marks causing damages to other parties by giving several case law facts in Part Ⅱ, Background Information; also, to find out legislations preventing those illegal behaviours and determine effects they bring to certain business industries by accessing legislations and Lexis Library in Part Ⅲ, Relevant Regulations and Impact On Business. Part Ⅳ, Conclusions will include whether the legislations do help to protect relevant people and lead to impressive results, while Part Ⅴ, Recommendations will indicate possible ways suggested for businesses responding to such legislations in case of violating the law, as well as how to better implement and perfect the legislations.
Part Ⅱ: Background Information
Trade marks are treated as intangible assets for business (See Appendix A-1), which are essential for competition and customers, driving product innovation and helping develop customers’ loyalty (Office of Fair Trading, 2010).
However, many people are taking advantage of trade marks to carry out illegal business operations. Illegal behaviours fall mainly in three parts, registering well-known names as trade marks, unauthorised use of trade marks and improper comparative advertising. Such false information not only directly harms the image and interests of official businesses, but also misleads consumers to purchase and cause unfair competition among enterprises in the same field.
First and foremost, it is illegal to register a well-known name as trade mark. The case mentioned in the introduction section is an example. When looking at the trade mark, consumers easily connect Qiaodan Sports with Michael Jordan, causing final purchase, which is primarily due to respect or addiction of Jordan but the quality or practicality of that sportswear. Addictively, in the case ‘Elvis Presley Enterprises Inc v Shaw (t/a Elvisly Yours Ltd)’ (See Appendix 2), Elvisly Yours Ltd cannot continue to use the name because ’Elvis’ is such a famous name that might trigger confusion among consumers.
Secondly, it is illegal to make unauthorised use of trade marks, especially passing-off. In the case ‘Arsenal Football Club plc v Reed’ (See Appendix 2), Mr Reed was accused of selling unofficial Arsenal souvenirs by Arsenal Football Club. ‘Arsenal’ and ‘Arsenal Gunners’ had been registered by