Heraldisk efterbildning och förväxlingsrisk i det rättsliga skyddet för statsvapen och statsemblem
Sunnqvist, Martin LU
(2023)
In Heraldisk tidsskrift
13(127).
p.447-460
- Abstract (Swedish)
- In international law, according to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, a coat of arms of a state and other state emblems are protected against use in trademarks. Included in the protection is also ”any imitation from a heraldic point of view” of the protected emblem. This phrase has been further defined in EU law. The Court of Justice of the European Union held in the ”American Clothing” case in 2009 that the heraldic description of the coat of arms must be assessed, but details that a heraldist but not the general public might notice are to be disregarded. This provides national coats of arms and emblems with a far-reaching protection. In the ”von Hannover” case from the EU Tribunal in 2011, the court applied... (More)
- In international law, according to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, a coat of arms of a state and other state emblems are protected against use in trademarks. Included in the protection is also ”any imitation from a heraldic point of view” of the protected emblem. This phrase has been further defined in EU law. The Court of Justice of the European Union held in the ”American Clothing” case in 2009 that the heraldic description of the coat of arms must be assessed, but details that a heraldist but not the general public might notice are to be disregarded. This provides national coats of arms and emblems with a far-reaching protection. In the ”von Hannover” case from the EU Tribunal in 2011, the court applied this approach in a case where there were historic reasons for both the state and the applicant to use similar emblems. In the two cases ”Stockholms Elbolag” and ”Korona Pay” from 2020 and 2022, the Swedish patent and market courts applied the principles from the ”American Clothing” judgment on the Swedish three crowns and the royal crown respectively. In both cases, the Swedish courts found that the similarities between the state symbols and the trademarks were sufficient for a member of the general public to perceive the trademarks as ”imitations from a heraldic point of view” of the protected emblems. Swedish legislation, requiring the similarity to be such that the emblem and the trademark can ”easily can be confused”, was interpreted in conformity with the phrase ”any imitation from a heraldic point of view” according to the Paris convention. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
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- author
- Sunnqvist, Martin
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2023
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Rättshistoria, Heraldik, Legal history, Heraldry
- in
- Heraldisk tidsskrift
- volume
- 13
- issue
- 127
- pages
- 447 - 460
- publisher
- Societas Heraldica Scandinavica
- ISSN
- 0440-6966
- language
- Swedish
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 8b33b8e5-9fed-4dfb-af95-ec33c2c08088
- date added to LUP
- 2023-04-25 21:32:39
- date last changed
- 2023-04-26 08:02:55
@article{8b33b8e5-9fed-4dfb-af95-ec33c2c08088,
abstract = {{In international law, according to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, a coat of arms of a state and other state emblems are protected against use in trademarks. Included in the protection is also ”any imitation from a heraldic point of view” of the protected emblem. This phrase has been further defined in EU law. The Court of Justice of the European Union held in the ”American Clothing” case in 2009 that the heraldic description of the coat of arms must be assessed, but details that a heraldist but not the general public might notice are to be disregarded. This provides national coats of arms and emblems with a far-reaching protection. In the ”von Hannover” case from the EU Tribunal in 2011, the court applied this approach in a case where there were historic reasons for both the state and the applicant to use similar emblems. In the two cases ”Stockholms Elbolag” and ”Korona Pay” from 2020 and 2022, the Swedish patent and market courts applied the principles from the ”American Clothing” judgment on the Swedish three crowns and the royal crown respectively. In both cases, the Swedish courts found that the similarities between the state symbols and the trademarks were sufficient for a member of the general public to perceive the trademarks as ”imitations from a heraldic point of view” of the protected emblems. Swedish legislation, requiring the similarity to be such that the emblem and the trademark can ”easily can be confused”, was interpreted in conformity with the phrase ”any imitation from a heraldic point of view” according to the Paris convention.}},
author = {{Sunnqvist, Martin}},
issn = {{0440-6966}},
keywords = {{Rättshistoria; Heraldik; Legal history; Heraldry}},
language = {{swe}},
number = {{127}},
pages = {{447--460}},
publisher = {{Societas Heraldica Scandinavica}},
series = {{Heraldisk tidsskrift}},
title = {{Heraldisk efterbildning och förväxlingsrisk i det rättsliga skyddet för statsvapen och statsemblem}},
volume = {{13}},
year = {{2023}},
}