Research On The Legal Problems Of The Celebrity Name And The Right Of Well-known Trademark Rights Conflict

"Jeremy Lin" trademark case just came to an end, and "QIAODAN*trademark case occurred recently. Celebrity’s name often been registered. It is not only a social problem, but also a legal problem. Because celebrity name right has more value of property than the traditional sense of the name right, it attracts many market participants to rely on celebrity popularity to earn profits. Generally speaking, in the existing legal system, the celebrity name trademark will be prohibited or cancelled due to violating the prior right of celebrity name in the trademark registration procedures.However, because of the limitation of the existing level of science and technology and human cognition ability, review staff can not be exhaustive, and omission are inevitable. Some of the trademarks grows gradually in the carefully cultivation of the trademark operators from day to day, and its awareness gradually improves, even better than the original famous names and more far-reaching, and become well-known trademarks. From another point of view, under the market economic system, the behavior of registering famous names reflects a market participant’s smart business mind. If these well-known trademarks are also cancelled in accordance with the relevant provisions as the common trademarks, regardless of the investment of the owners and the users of the well-known trademark. It is not only a waste of social resources, but also unfair to the operator. The name also has the characteristic of high repetitiveness, so it can’t be exclusively owned by anyone. We can’t prohibit others to use the name as a registered trademark, because a famous person has the same or similar name. In foreign countries, there is legislation of publicity right to protect celebrity name, but it is not impeccable in solving the right conflicts between the right of well-known trademarks and the right of celebrity name. Combined with "QIAODAN" trademark case, use "grafting theory" as a guide and other measures to solve the conflicts, and improve the relevant legislation at the same time, so that to give full play to the role of market participants’commercial talent, promote the development of economy, protect the celebrity’s name right, and balance the interests between the right of well-known trademarks and the right of celebrity name.