Limitations of trademark rights in major Asian jurisdictions

• Main Author: LIU, Kung-chung
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2023
• Subjects: International exhaustion; abuse of trademark rights; Fair use; defences against the award of damages; Asian Studies; Intellectual Property Law
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/4369
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Amid rapid economic growth in Asia, the protection of intellectual property (IP) has become increasingly important. However, there is a shortage of comparative literature on Asian IP, and there is even less dealing with Asian trademark laws.Given the size and importance of Asia’s bustling trademark landscape, this chapter is dedicated to trademark laws in the major Asian jurisdictions of China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Taiwan. It will focus on the limitations on trademark rights, in part to contrast the statement “the issue (exhaustion–added by the author) has come to be addressed by legislatures and courts in a restrictive manner,” and “[g]iven how restrictive most jurisdictions’ laws on exhaustion have become. It starts with a survey of the Asian trademark landscape, and then explores four crucial limitations on trademark rights in these jurisdictions: international exhaustion, prohibition of abuse of trademark rights, fair use, and unique defences against the award of damages. Also explored are new limitations on trademark rights adopted in the major Asian jurisdictions.