Research On Legal Issues Of Trademark Genericide

Trademark genericide, is a phenomenon that the inherent or obtained significant features of the trademark have been gradually reduced until the total loss which makes it become as the generic name of the particular commodity and is no longer protected by the trademark law. So far, the theory circle in our country mainly focuses on the trademark dilution, even some scholars consider that the trademark dilution and the trademark genericide are the two different phenomenon. However, the most scholars consider that the trademark genericide, trademark weakening and trademark uglification all belong to the trademark dilution. They have some relations, but also exist some differences. Comparing with the above mentioned trademark infringements, for the trademark obligees, trademark genericid is the most serious consequences.Trademark genericide originated from the developed western countries. For the identify and the treatment of the trademark genericide, the United States and the western countries are already quite mature, and they all make the clear rules in their trademark law. For instance, the standards of the trademark genericide in the United States are the primary significance standard, the motivation of correlative public and the standard of commodity species. When the registered trademark becomes to the universal name of the all or part commodity and service, the repeal application of the trademark can be proposed at any time. However, so far, there is no clear rules about the identify and the treatment of the trademark genericide in our national trademark law.Due to the phenomenon of the trademark genericide having become prevalent increasingly and the absence of the clear rules, there usually exist the confusion and conflict in the choice of the corresponding laws. For these reasons, basing on the analysis of the legislative defect and the judicial prejudication, we must combine the concrete situations of the trademark protection to explore the main reasons of the trademark genericide, such as the misfeasance of the trademark owner, the weak markedness of the trademark, etc. and confirm their legal consequences such as the repeal of the tradmark, the limit of trademark protection, the reject of registration renewal and so on. According to the practices of trademark justice and the experiences of international legislation, the author constitutes the standards to measure the degradation of trademark and establishes the logical imputation system to establish the legal regulation of the trademark genericide.