Vol.7 (PITAVA)

H26(WA)No.768 Infringement suit judged in Tokyo District Court

Summary

The request for injunction was judged as an abuse of the trademark right based on the fact of non use of the registered mark. Although the plaintiff asserted that the non use should not be disputed in a infringement suit but a non-use cancellation trial, the assertion was not accepted.

My comments

In general, use or non use of a registered mark should be disputed only in a non-use cancellation trial. Actually, until the subject case, there had been no cases that just the fact of non use enables enforcement of a trademark right to be denied. Therefore, the subject decision is groundbreaking.