With the ever-increasing importance to both manufacturers and consumers of brand advertising and brand awareness, the commercial significance of trade marks continues to grow. Trade mark abuse, including counterfeiting branded products and the wrongful registration of a trade mark belonging to a person or company by another party (a bad faith registration), is a well-known problem in intellectual property law. This book provides practical guidance on protecting trade marks against trade mark grabbing in general and abusive bad faith trade mark registrations in particular. It examines the case law, literature and recent EU developments (including issues relating to the enlargement of the EU) on trade mark registrations in bad faith from both an international and national perspective, and offers a comparative analysis of the relevant rules and regulations in all EU Member States.

With the ever-increasing importance to both manufacturers and consumers of brand advertising and brand awareness, the commercial significance of trade marks continues to grow. Trade mark abuse, including counterfeiting branded products and the wrongful registration of a trade mark belonging to a person or company by another party (a bad faith registration), is a well-known problem in intellectual property law. This book provides practical guidance on protecting trade marks against trade mark grabbing in general and abusive bad faith trade mark registrations in particular. It examines the case law, literature and recent EU developments (including issues relating to the enlargement of the EU) on trade mark registrations in bad faith from both an international and national perspective, and offers a comparative analysis of the relevant rules and regulations in all EU Member States.