, or the overall structure of words and graphics, which easily confuses consumers about the source of goods or services. As far as word mark is concerned, it is generally necessary to combine sound, form and meaning. Graphic trademarks are mainly based on appearance. Generally speaking, if there is an approximation of the sound, shape and meaning of a trademark, it can be judged that the two trademarks are similar, but they need to be used together to analyze the weight given to them by the market.
2. How to identify trademarks as identical or similar
The principle of easy discrimination
When a buyer buys a certain brand of goods he needs in the market, he always relies on his memory of a certain trademark or the impression it has left in his mind, and this memory and impression is inaccurate or vague, and the buyer usually remembers only some characteristics of the trademark. If two trademarks have the same characteristics, so that ordinary buyers can't distinguish them with ordinary attention, they are similar trademarks.
For example, whether the trademarks of household daily necessities are similar or not should be judged by whether the family owner can distinguish them with ordinary attention when purchasing goods. French precedents take this as the standard for identifying trademark similarity. The so-called average buyer should be the final consumer, and should not include middlemen and connoisseurs with special hobbies, because the latter has special experience and will pay special attention to trademarks when purchasing, and generally will not be confused because of similar trademarks. The United States, Canada, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Switzerland and other countries also adopt this principle.
Principle of similarity of subjects
Whether two trademarks are similar or not should be observed from the overall situation of trademarks. This principle is adopted by most countries.
In France, this principle applies to all kinds of goods, including word mark, graphic trademarks and their joint trademarks, such as MONORPIX and MENUPRIX, THERMOR and THERMAX, which are all considered to be similar.
Germany also adopts the principle of overall observation to judge the similarity of trademarks, but in the case law, the trademark effectiveness is divided into the strong and the weak. Where the word mark is short, it is easy for consumers to remember and identify, and a wider recognition standard is adopted when making overall observation on whether the trademark is similar or not. On the other hand, if the trademark is composed of more than two characters, in addition to the overall observation, each character should be observed separately. For conceptual trademarks (including intellectual trademarks), German courts have also banned similar concepts, such as "Du und lch" and "he and she" (er&; Sie) two trademarks, it is treated as such.
Belgium does not allow trademarks with similar concepts, such as "Perle du Tokyo" and "Perle du Japan", which are regarded as similar concepts.
in Japan, the case is also observed as a whole. For example, the trademark "aCONTINENTAL" with all caps on the logo is the same as the logo, but only the initial letter is capitalized and the rest are lowercase, which is regarded as approximate.
principle of isolated observation
to distinguish whether trademarks are similar, it is not to compare two trademarks carefully together, but to observe them in isolation. Isolated observation makes the meaning of a certain part of the mark of a trademark stronger, while making the rest an addition of strong meaning. In this case, the average buyer is easy to mistake. Especially when a part of a trademark is not closely related to the rest, it is often used to observe it in isolation to judge whether there is similarity between trademarks.
principle of popularity
some well-known trademarks or well-known trademarks have a stronger function of indicating the origin of goods or services because of their high awareness among the relevant public. Even if the components of such trademarks are added, it is difficult to change the public's understanding of their origin because the well-known parts have a strong role in indicating the origin.