Newsletter
TRADEMARK COEXISTENCE AGREEMENTS DO NOT HELP IN TRADEMARK REGISTRATION
Where two or more persons separately apply to register identical or similar trademarks for use on the same or similar goods, registration should be granted to the applicant who files first, as pro-vided by Article 36 of the Trademark Law. In practice, some applicants, at the time of filing, produce a trademark coexistence agreement signed by the owner of a similar trademark for which an earlier application was filed or regis-tration was granted for use on similar goods, and assert that the two trademarks in question can coexist in the market without confusing or mis-leading consumers, so that registration should also be granted for the later-filed mark.
However, in a 2001 judgment, the Supreme Administrative Court held that, as stated in Ar-ticle 1 of the Trademark Law, the law's purpose is to protect not only the interests of trademark owners, but also those of consumers at large. A trademark coexistence agreement is merely a contract between the parties to it. Therefore, if trademarks or goods are indeed found to be similar, registration may not be granted on the basis of a trademark coexistence agreement.