Collective mark

Collective brand denotes a certain class of trademarks that can be protected. It differs from other according to § 3 Trademark Act protectable mark brand (law) mainly because

that their owner can only be an association (or association ) with legal capacity, including the umbrella associations and central associations whose members are themselves associations or a legal person under public law (cf. § 98 f. MarkenG),
that the sign may exceptionally (contrary to § 8, II No. 2) consist of a geographical indication of origin (see § 99 MarkenG) and
that the application must be accompanied by a trademark statute with certain minimum requirements (cf. § 102 Trademark Act).

Certain norms of association law have an impact on trademark law. Correspondingly, in addition to the possible obstacles to protection of the trademark to be examined during registration, there is also the immorality of the trademark statutes. However, this can be cured analogously to association law. The authorized users of the brand do not necessarily agree with the owner or its members, but are determined by the publicly visible brand statutes. Therefore, the exercise of the property rights lies exclusively on the part of the owner. However, the trademark statutes must contain a regulation of the rights and obligations of the beneficial owners in the event of trademark infringement. In this way, the beneficiaries could be granted their own rights against the infringer from the statutes.

The trademark is tied to the owner and cannot be transferred. If the owner expires, the trademark expires.

In principle, the general provisions of the Trademark Act are to be applied to collective trademarks, unless otherwise stipulated in Sections 97 - 106 MarkenG (Section 97 (2) MarkenG); For example, the absolute obstacles to protection of Section 8 MarkenG are modified by Sections 97 (1), 99 and 106 MarkenG.

The introduction of certification marks created a counterpart to the collective mark that is not necessarily linked to a legally competent association as the owner. As with collective trademarks, the group of authorized users is determined by trademark statutes. Anyone can act as the owner of the certification mark, including businesses and private individuals. However, the owner is required to take a neutral position, comparable to an association, with regard to the product classes affected by the brand.

Examples

Collective marks often refer to products with protected geographical names such as For example: Thuringian Rostbratwurst, Champagne , Aachener Printen or Dresdner Christstollen but also seals of approval .

Individual evidence

↑ Federal Patent Court, decision of January 2, 2006, Az .: 30 W (pat) 307/03 . Admody Lawyers Public Company. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
^ Judgment on "Dresdner Stollen": Federal Court of Justice, judgment of October 31, 2002, Az .: I ZR 207/00 . Admody Lawyers Public Company. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
↑ Brennecke, Harald / Raves, Constantin / Brückner, Florian: Trademark law - an introduction: Trademark forms, trademark protection and trademark registration . 2nd Edition. Verlag Mittelstand und Recht, Karlsruhe 2017, ISBN 978-3-939384-81-6 , p. 27 .

[59Iaw6-1] Federal Patent Court, decision of January 2, 2006, Az .: 30 W (pat) 307/03 . Admody Lawyers Public Company. Retrieved July 1, 2017.

[Acke9uP1-2] Judgment on "Dresdner Stollen": Federal Court of Justice, judgment of October 31, 2002, Az .: I ZR 207/00 . Admody Lawyers Public Company. Retrieved July 1, 2017.

[3] Brennecke, Harald / Raves, Constantin / Brückner, Florian: Trademark law - an introduction: Trademark forms, trademark protection and trademark registration . 2nd Edition. Verlag Mittelstand und Recht, Karlsruhe 2017, ISBN 978-3-939384-81-6 , p. 27 .