Competition Law To The Judicial Protection Of Time-honored Brand:

Time-honored brand enterprises have been inherited spirit of craftsman and cultural traditions of Chinese nation and invested with huge brand value,economic value and cultural value.On the one hand,time-honored brand is an extension of trade name.On the other hand,China time-honored brands differ from international well-known with a long history,it embodies the unique historical value during its development,which should be provided special protection.Therefore,it has double significance both in theory and practice to study judicial protection of time-honored brand in competition law.In the market,operators and others have been disputing the right of time-honored brand for a long time.We can summarize two types of dispute by combing cases of time-honored brand unfair competition:the one is time-honored brand and enterprise name and trade name,the other one is time-honored brand and prior trademark.In the recent years,as the number of case of trademark infringement and unfair competition about Time-honored Brand increases,the Supreme People's Court issued No.58 Guiding Case in 2016,strengthening the protection of time-honored brand enterprises.The case breaks the balance of every party have their rights to use the time-honored brand reasonable judging from the court,and definitely expresses that historical origin is an important factor will be considered.Although the operator owned trademark of the time-honored brand,if he has no historical origin of it and use it,he will break the competition law.The reason why the Supreme Court strengthen the protection of time-honored brand enterprises is that these enterprises has experienced special periods of social and economic development in China and they have influenced during their own development.Protecting them also means protect national industries.To study the protection of time-honored brand should begin with the study of defining the conception of it.The time-honored brand is defined as brand in Chinese policy documents,and also be included in intellectual property or well-known trade name.Some scholars think it is a famous trade name in theoretical realm,and it can become a specific name of famous commodity in the judicial practice.So we can conclude that the time-honored brand has abundant conceptions,it should be defined in specific cases.Based on the different comprehensions of concepts of the time-honored brand,there are also different ways to protect time-honored brand enterprises at home and abroad.It will be limited by the high standards of trademark infringement with intellectual property law.Under the protection of competition law,on the one hand,it will be a supplement of requirements of trademark infringement,on the other hand,it has its own value of protection.According to this,the article will explore other methods of protecting time-honored brand enterprises further:(1)passing off from precedent law countries,especially in the examination of will.(2)sharing the achievements of the dilution theory from the protection of trademark to well-known trade name.In order to study the protection of time-honored brand enterprise in the competition law,it is necessary to research classic cases of time-honored brand unfair competition in recent years firstly,and conclude characters of these cases and courts'opinions.Comparing with similar cases at home and aboard to realize the No.5 8 Guiding Case and analyze the reasons why the Supreme People's Court strengthens protection of time-honored brand enterprises.Then it starts from the concept of time-honored brand,combines legal context,theories with judicial practice in nation and international to study the connotation and extension of time-honored brand and different ways to protect these enterprises.Finally,it is important to explore other chance of protection of time-honored brand enterprises in the competition law.