Study on defining the limit of protection range of famous signs

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K01418
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 05070:New fields of law-related
• Research Institution: Kanazawa University
• Principal Investigator: Otomo Nobuhide 金沢大学, 法学系, 教授 (90377375)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 標識 / 著名商標 / 地域団体商標 / 地理的表示 / 準公共財

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Concerning famous signs, issues between user groups surrounding regional collective trademarks, reliability issues of trademark indications that have been going on since before the Edo period, and issues of geographical indications are being discussed. Ten papers were published as research results during the period, regarding the issue of discrepancies in the subject matter of geographical indications that have arisen in Japan, and the issue of whether public marks such as halal marks should be protected under the trademark system.
In addition, from these studies, I realized the role of famous trademarks as quasi-public goods, and got the idea to conduct a new study on this.

Free Research Field

新領域法学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

著名標識をめぐる種々の制度間における問題を比較研究することで、著名商標が単に独占的な私権としてのみ存在するのではなく、広く需要者の指針となる準公共財的な役割を果たしていることを明らかにした。
これにより、準公共財的な役割を果たす法的対象の規律が様々な制度を横断し、どのようにあるべきか、という実務に直結する課題を発見することにつながった。
なお、この新しい課題への取り組みは、2024年度からの科研費（基盤研究（C)において継続する。