특허법원 2015.6.26. 선고 2015허17 거절결정(상) 판결에 대하여

A Case Study Regarding Patent Court Case No. 2015HUR17 for “ROCKY MOUNTAIN CHOCOLATE FACTORY” for Class 35

The Korean Patent Court rejected “ROCKY MOUNTAIN CHOCOLATE FACTORY” for “retail store services in the field of chocolates and other confections” in Class 35, reasoning that the mark is lack of distinctiveness under the provision of Article 6 Section 1 Paragraph 7 of Korean Trademark Act. In my opinion, “CHOCOLATE”, “FACTORY” or “CHOCOLATE FACTORY” is not distinctive in connection with the designated services due to the descriptiveness thereof, however, “ROCKY MOUNTAIN” has nothing to do with the services. “ROCKY MOUNTAIN” is an arbitrary in connection with the services. Accordingly, the mark is inherently distinctive for registration as trademark. Even worse, the Patent Court had discussed about the secondary meaning of the mark by use, which is not necessary because the mark is an arbitrary but not a descriptive.