Trademarks II

I. Scope of Trademark Protection

A trademark owner - who has acquired trademark protection pursuant to Section 4 MarkenG - is entitled to an exclusive right in this trademark (Section 14 MarkenG). This includes the right to use the trademark exclusively and to prohibit others from doing so. However, in case of conflicting intellectual property rights covering signs and marks third parties are only prohibited from using the trademark without the consent of the owner if the trademark owner can rely on priority (Section 6 MarkenG). The priority in case of registered trademarks is the application date (or any earlier date which may be claimed). For signs which have acquired secondary meaning in the trade circles concerned, that time is relevant.