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Determining The Scope Of Trademark Rights By Recourse To Value Judgements Related To The Effectiveness Of Competition - The Demise Of The Trademark-Use Requirement And The Functional Analysis Of Trademark Law, Apostolos Chronopoulos

Apostolos Chronopoulos

This paper examines the doctrinal implications of the principle of complementarity between intellectual property rights and competition law in the field of trademarks. The systematic adherence of trademark rights to the wider set of norms regulating the competitive process implies that their teleology should take into consideration value judgements related to the effectiveness of competition. Neither the limiting concept of trademark use nor the legal recognition of some “economic trademark functions” is apt to fulfil this legal task. It is therefore submitted that the normative valuations flowing out of competition law should be implemented through a purposive interpretation of the …