Research On Trademark Infringement Issues In Foreign-related OEM Processing

With the deepening of economic globalization,foreign-related OEM trade mode has become an important channel for Chinese processing enterprises to obtain income.In this kind of trade mode,our processing side needs to produce specific branded goods according to the requirements of overseas brand side,and deliver all the branded goods to overseas brand side.When the trademark on the branded goods is similar to the registered trademark of China,and the branded goods are similar to the goods approved for use of the registered trademark,the Chinese trademark owner is likely to file a lawsuit against the domestic processing party for trademark infringement.At present,there is a great dispute between the theory circle and the judicial practice as to whether the foreign-related licensing process carried out by the domestic processing party constitutes trademark infringement.Based on this,the author takes "HONDA" trademark dispute case as an example,try to evaluate the two major disputes in such cases: first,whether the domestic processing party’s behavior belongs to the "trademark use";Second,whether the behavior of the domestic processing party is easy to cause confusion among the relevant public.Based on the analysis of trademark laws and regulations and trademark law theories,the author draws the conclusion that,according to the different purposes of the system,trademark use can be classified into the right acquisition type,the right maintenance type and the right infringement type.Different types of trademark use have different connotations.Production labeling and export delivery by domestic processing party belong to trademark infringement.In addition,the likelihood of confusion is the substantive basis for judging trademark infringement.To explore whether the domestic processing party’s behavior is likely to cause confusion,we should first clarify the specific scope of the relevant public,and then identify the likelihood of confusion by combining the similarity degree of the trademark,the similarity degree of the commodity,the significance of the trademark and other factors.Based on the analysis of the specific case of this case,the author concludes that the defendant’s behavior may likely lead to confusion among the relevant public.Finally,at the end of this paper,the author suggests that the judicial authorities should consider the following ways to solve the problem of trademark infringement in foreign-related licensing processing: first,the principle of confusion should be fully applied;Second,redefine the geographical scope of "relevant public";Third,the identification of trademark infringement should examine the status of the rights of overseas trademarks.