19 - Trademark Law and Advertising Law in the European Union: Conflicts and Convergence

Summary

Trademark law and unfair competition law share common purposes. Causing a likelihood of confusion with another trader’s mark is the classical and typical case of trademark infringement. At the same time, creating confusion is one of the examples of unfair competition listed in Article 10bis of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property (Paris Convention). In recent decades, trademark law has extended beyond this core area. In both the United States and the European Union, well-known marks are now protected against dilution, and in the EU well-known marks are also protected against misappropriation. Before trademark law entered this field, protection against denigration and misappropriation was mainly provided via unfair competition law, although national laws differ in this respect, particularly as regards misappropriation. It thus comes as no surprise that US law considers both fields of law as closely related.