Japan Japon Japan. Report Q 151. by the Japanese Group. The Impact of Advertising Restrictions on Trademarks

Transcription

1 Japan Japon Japan Report Q 151 by the Japanese Group The Impact of Advertising Restrictions on Trademarks 1. Respective advertising measures for certain products or services (1) 1) Advertisements of special pharmaceuticals for special diseases are prohibited by law as follows. Article 67 of Pharmaceutical Affairs Law/ Article 12 of Enforcement Order thereof Advertisements of pharmaceuticals for cancer, sarcoma and leukemia which are used by instructions from medical doctors must not be made except those being placed in newspapers or magazines bearing articles concerning pharmaceutical affairs and medical treatment for people engaged in pharmaceutical affairs and medical treatment, and any other advertisement being made principally for those people. 2) Advertisements of other pharmaceuticals are restricted by the Government as follows. Standard for appropriate advertisements for pharmaceuticals etc. - Notification of Pharmaceutical Affairs Bureau/Ministry of Health and Welfare - Advertisements of pharmaceuticals which are used by instructions from medical doctors and dentists shall not be made for the general public other than people engaged in pharmaceutical affairs. The same applies to advertisements of medicalinstruments for use by medical doctors. 3) Advertisements of tobacco and alcoholic drinks are restricted by self-imposed standards of those industries as follows. Tobacco (Self-imposed standard-japan Tobacco Association) a. Product advertisements shall not be placed in TV, radio, cinema, outdoor TV board and Internet. b. Samples of tobacco shall not be delivered on the street. (Delivery of such samples shall be made to tobacco buyers in front of tobacco shops, in pubrestaurants or event sites.) 1

2 c. Product advertisements and sales promotion shall not be made for minors. TV talent, fashion models or TV characters popular among minors shall not be used in product advertisements. Product advertisements shall not be placed in newspapers and magazines for minors. Product advertisements shall not be placed in outdoor advertisement boards around primary schools, junior high schools and high schools. d. Pictures of smoking women shall not be used in product advertisements. Product advertisements shall not be placed in newspapers and magazines for women. Alcoholic drinks (Self-imposed Standards-Council for Alcoholic Drinkers) a. TV commercial messages shall not be made as a rule during the following times. Monday - Friday: 5:00 AM - 6:00 PM Saturday, Sunday, National Holiday: 5:00 AM - 12:00 AM b. Commercial messages shall not be made in TV and Radio programs for minors. c. Everyone shall do their best not to make spot commercial messages immediately before and after TV and Radio programs for minors. d. Advertisements shall not be made in newspapers and magazines for minors. (2) A person who has violated the law mentioned in the item 1.1(A) above shall be punished by penal servitude for less than one year or by a fine of less than 500,000 yen. There is no sanction even if the Standard of Government or the Self-imposed Standards of the industries mentioned in the items (1) 2) and 3) above are violated. (3) There is no mention of trademarks in the laws and the Standards mentioned in the items (1) 1), 2) and 3) above. However, advertisements of tobacco, etc., are prohibited or restricted by the law or the standards mentioned in the item (1) above, and accordingly, uses of trademarks are prohibited or restricted as far as use on advertisements for tobacco etc. 2. The influence of restrictive rules in respect of advertising on validity and proceedings for the registration of marks (1) There is no provision in the Japanese Trademark Law which rejects a registration of a trademark for the reason that goods covered by the trademark application are advertisement-restricted goods such as tobacco, etc. Trademarks covering advertisement-restricted goods are registered, if the trademark is distinctive enough, dissimilar to prior trademarks and has no other reasons for rejection. 2

3 (2) Consumer associations or official services are entitled to intervene in opposition proceedings or cancellation proceedings. (3) There is no provisional registration system in Japan. (4) Trademark registrations cannot be invalidated on the ground that goods covered by the registration are advertisement-restricted goods. There is no special proceeding against trademark registrations covering advertisement-restricted goods. 3. The influence of restrictive advertising measures on the exercise of a trademark right (1) There are other acts defined as a "use" of a trademark by the JapaneseTrademark Law than use of a trademark on an advertisement, and therefore, advertising restrictions do not affect the need for use of a trademark. (2) Whether or not trademark registrations are invalidated should be judged on whether the subject trademarks are similar or not, goods covered are similar or not, or confusion is likely between them, etc. Trademark registrations cannot be invalidated based on the fact that the registration attacked by the demandant covers advertisement-restricted goods. (3) The proprietor can use freely his own trademarks on whatever goods are covered by the trademark registrations. (4) Advertisements are prohibited or restricted on tobacco, etc., and therefore, judgement of whether a trademark is well known must be made by taking that fact into consideration. (5) There is such a risk. However, there should not be such a risk. 4. Possible harmonization of the existing national systems (1) Nothing (2) Nothing (3) It is understandable that advertisements on tobacco, etc., are restricted for the reason that smoking tobacco, etc., has a bad influence on human health. However, advertising restrictions themselves have naturally no relation with a trademark system, and consequently, if some country has a trademark system in which it is provided that if proprietors of trademark registrations on advertisement-restricted goods are prohibited from registering the trademark for advertisement-free goods, or if the trademark registrations are cancelled for the reason that the trademarks are registered on both advertisement-restricted goods and advertisement-free goods, it is not within the limits of common sense. Summary Advertisements of special pharmaceuticals for special diseases and of other pharmaceuticals are restricted, respectively, by law and by the Government. 3

4 Advertisements of tobacco and alcoholic drinks are restricted by the self-imposed standards of those industries. A person who has violated the law shall be punished, but these are no sanctions against any violation of the standards imposed by the Government or industries. Advertisement is a form of trademark use, and in that sense trademarks are affected by restrictions of advertisements. However any selection and registration of trademark shall not be affected by restrictions of advertisements. It could be considered that restrictions are imposed to a reasonable extent against advertisements of pharmaceutical preparations, tobacco, alcoholic drinks, which may affect human health. However questions on advertisement restrictions on some particular products and registration and use of trademarks on those products are on the different levels. Accordingly it cannot be considered that registration of a trademark, for advertisement-free goods, identical with the trademark registered for advertisement-restricted goods, is prohibited or is cancelled after registration. Résumé Les publicités de produits pharmaceutiques spéciaux pour des maladies spéciales et des autres produits pharmaceutiques sont restreintes, respectivement, par la loi et par le gouvernement. Les publicités pour le tabac et les boissons alcoolisées sont restreintes par les normes imposées automatiquement pour ces industries. Une personne qui a violé la loi doit être punie, mais il n'y a pas de sanctions contre une violation quelconque des normes imposées par le gouvernement ou les industries. La publicité est une forme d'utilisation d'une marque de commerce, et en ce sens les marques de commerce sont affectées par des restrictions de la publicité. Cependant, toute sélection et enregistrement d'une marque de commerce ne doit pas être affectée par des restrictions de publicité. Il pourrait être considéré que des restrictions sont imposées dans une mesure raisonnable vis-à-vis de publicités de préparations pharmaceutiques, de tabac, de boissons alcoolisées, qui peuvent affecter la santé humaine. Cependant, des questions sur les restrictions de la publicité sur certains produits particuliers ainsi que l'enregistrement et l'utilisation des marques de commerce sur ces produits sont à des niveaux différents. En conséquence, il ne peut pas être considéré que l'enregistrement d'une marque de commerce, pour des marchandises à publicité libre, d'une manière identique à une marque de commerce enregistrée pour des marchandises à publicité restreinte, est interdit ou annulé après enregistrement. 4

5 Zusammenfassung Werbung für spezielle Arzneimittel für besondere Erkrankungen bzw. für andere pharmazeutische Produkte ist durch Gesetz und Regierung eingeschränkt. Werbung für Tabakwaren und alkoholische Getränke ist durch die selbst auferlegten Verpflichtungen der einschlägigen Industrien beschränkt. Eine Person, die gegen das Gesetz verstossen hat, wird bestraft, dies ist jedoch keine Massnahme gegen eine beliebige Verletzung der durch Regierung oder Industrie auferlegten Verpflichtungen. Werbung ist eine Form der Nutzung eines Warenzeichens, und in diesem Sinne werden die Warenzeichen durch Werbebeschränkungen beeinträchtigt. Jedoch soll jede Auswahl und Registrierung eines Warenzeichens unbeeinträchtigt von Werbebeschränkungen erfolgen. Es könnte in Betracht gezogen werden, Werbung für pharmazeutische Produkte, Tabakwaren und alkoholische Getränke, die die menschliche Gesundheit beeinträchtigen können, in einem vernünftigen Masse zu beschränken. Jedoch liegen die Fragen zu Werbebeschränkungen für einige besondere Produkte und zur Registrierung sowie Nutzung von Warenzeichen für diese Produkte auf unterschiedlichen Ebenen. Demzufolge darf nicht in Betracht gezogen werden, die Registrierung eines Warenzeichens für Waren mit Werbungsverbot, das mit dem eingetragenen Warenzeichen von Waren mit Werbebeschränkung identisch ist, zu verbieten oder es nach der Registrierung zu löschen. 5