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World
Intellectual Property - IP Laws - United States
US Trade
Marks:
When a recognized
foreign brand to the US marketplace was introduced, owners of a
well-known trade mark outside of the US find that an American company
attempted to renown the foreign mark by making an earlier trade
mark filing in the USPTO. Generally, under US trade mark laws,
a party seeking trade mark protection for a mark in the US enjoys
an initial presumption of priority over a party owning only foreign
registration. Based on this concept (known as territoriality
of priority), an American user of a particular mark may attempt
to exploit its position by purporting to be the earlier user of
a mark in the US. However, despite the initial presumptions, the
owner of the well-known foreign mark would not be prohibited from
entry into the US marketplace under its well-known mark under the
protection granted to the owner of a well-known international mark.
There are certain protections granted under Article 6(bis) of the
Paris Convention for the protection of Intellectual Property recognizes
that the USPTO has the right to refuse registration of a mark that
is similar to a well-known foreign mark. The reliance on the
protections granted by the Paris Convention can therefore prevent
a first-to-file US party from capitalizing on a well-known foreign
mark.
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FIRM.COM - Online IPR Law Firm, India – Trade Marks, Copyright Registration,
Delhi, India
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