The Trademark Fair Use Defense: A Comparative Perspective

Federico Fusco

doi:10.2202/1934-2640.1237

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The Trademark Fair Use Defense: A Comparative Perspective

Published/Copyright: December 27, 2007

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From the journal Global Jurist Volume 7 Issue 3

The aim of this paper is to point out the differences and similarities between the American and the European understanding of the limitations to a trademark owner's exclusive rights. Such a comparison is particularly interesting now that the European national laws on trademarks have been harmonized by the Trademark Harmonization Directive, and the Community Trademark system has been set up. Given the peculiar coexistence of the Community Trademark system with the national ones and the recent establishment of the former, my analysis will also take into account the actual applications of the harmonized rules in one of the Member States, namely Italy. I will end up demonstrating that the exclusivity granted to trademark holders by European law encounters a set of limitations that is substantially equivalent to that labeled as "fair use" in the American system.

Keywords: trademarks; limitations; fair use

Published Online: 2007-12-27

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Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.2202/1934-2640.1237

Keywords for this article

trademarks; limitations; fair use