Trademarks for overseas expansion

Necessity of overseas trademark application

In principle, trademark rights are established in each country and are only valid in the country where they are registered. For example, if you acquire trademark rights in Japan, those rights are valid only within Japan. Therefore, in order to exercise trademark rights in a foreign country, you must obtain trademark rights in that country.

Additionally, as mentioned above, each country's trademark rights are independent, so even if a trademark has been obtained in Japan, it is possible that someone else has obtained the trademark rights in a foreign country. In such a case, if you export your own product bearing a trademark registered in Japan to a foreign country, it will infringe on someone else's trademark rights in that country, and you may be subject to an injunction or a claim for damages. there is.

Furthermore, unfortunately, there are brokers who acquire trademark rights in advance, using the fact that Japanese companies have not acquired trademark rights as a bonus, and then sell them at a high price once Japanese companies are expanding overseas. exists in

In order to prevent such problems from occurring, it is necessary to obtain trademark rights in the countries where the product is exported or sold or where counterfeit products are circulating.

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