Traffic validity
Traffic validity and traffic enforcement are legal terms from trademark law that must be viewed separately from one another.
The commercial validity of a sign means that a used sign is protected as a trademark (cf. § 4 No. 2 MarkenG ), whereby an actual competitive acquis that has been achieved due to intensive use and condenses into an exclusive right is protected. This is why one speaks of a usage mark in this case.
On the other hand, enforcement of the trade leads to the registration of signs that cannot be protected (cf. § 8 Paragraph 3 MarkenG in conjunction with § 25 No. 7 Trademark Regulation). When examining the requirements for public enforcement, according to which the trademark must have prevailed for the applicant in the relevant public in Germany (entire federal territory) to the necessary extent and in relation to certain goods and / or services, the question sometimes arises to what extent the enforcement of a brand component can lead to the protectability of the registered overall brands. The registration of the overall brand is only possible if the prevailing element is clearly visible in the overall impression.
