Trademark Law Revision Sheet

1. 📌 Essentials

• Trademark: Sign capable of graphical representation used to distinguish goods/services.
• Functions: Identify origin, guarantee quality, promote brand.
• Absolute grounds for refusal: Lack of distinctiveness, descriptiveness, deception.
• Relative grounds for refusal: Prior rights, reputation, unfair advantage.
• Likelihood of confusion: risk of consumers mistaking one mark for another.
• Reputable trademarks: Well known, recognized by significant public segment.
• Legal sources: Trademark Directive 2015/2436, CJEU case law.
• Infringement: Use of identical or similar signs for same/similar goods causing confusion or link.
• Similarity assessment: Visual, phonetic, conceptual.
• Goods/services assessment: Nature, end users, competition, complementarity.
• Exceptions to specialty: Use of reputation for different goods/services if unfair.
• Reputed markers can obstruct similar signs even if not identical.
• Prior rights typically do not include patents.
• Reputation can be territorial and time-dependent.
• Signs are identical if same or minor differences; similar if close.
• Confusion likelihood depends on consumer perception, familiarity, and sign similarity.
• Legal standards from Sabel, Canon, Lloyd, Arsenal cases.

2. 🧩 Key Structures & Components