특허심판원 2017.2.17. 심결 2016당1273 상표 권리범위확인(소극) 심결에 대하여

A Case Study Regarding Patent Trial Board Case No. 2016DANG1273 for Declaratory Judgement of “대한뉴스(Daehan News)” for Class 41

“대한뉴스”(“Daehan News” is the transliteration thereof, “Daehan” means Korea) is a technical mark as an arbitrary mark which is inherently distinctive enough to register. Accordingly, the present case is not a matter of secondary meaning but a matter of distinctiveness as arbitrary mark. Distinctiveness of a mark is determined by the definition of the five marks: generic mark, descriptive mark, suggestive mark, arbitrary mark and coined mark. A generic term or a descriptive term should be disclaimed during the prosecution of the mark for registration. The disclaimer should be adopted in Korea as soon as possible. A trademark infringement should be handled by court. Declaratory Judgements by the Trademark Office should be abolished.