Can an exclusive licensee of a trademark be sued for infringement?

In practice, many of us may be exposed to issues such as filing lawsuits against exclusive Trademark licensees for infringement, but because we don’t know much about it, many things are not very clear. In this regard, the editor of Legal Savior Network has compiled the following content to answer your questions. I hope it will be helpful to you.

Can the exclusive licensee of a trademark be sued for infringement?

A lawsuit can be filed against the exclusive licensee of a trademark for infringement.

The exclusive license to use a trademark means that the trademark registrant The registered trademark is only licensed to one licensee for use within the agreed period, region and in the agreed manner, and the trademark registrant shall not use the registered trademark in accordance with the agreement. In judicial practice, it often happens that the trademark registrant licenses the registered trademark to the licensee for exclusive use and then uses it himself. In this case, whether the exclusive user should sue the other party for breach of contract or infringement is controversial in judicial practice.

The nature of the exclusive license to use the trademark

Due to the exclusive licensee’s A specific trademark can be used exclusively within a specific region and period. Unspecified third parties, including the trademark owner, have no right to use it. Therefore, most people think that the exclusive right to use a license is an absolute right.Many judgments also state that "the defendant violated the plaintiff's exclusive license rights." However, this understanding has neither legal basis nor theoretical support.

Absolutely Quan's view has no clear legal basis

First of all, because absolute rights have the effect against unspecified third parties, based on the considerations of safeguarding market transactions and avoiding excessive interference with the freedom of behavior of unspecified third parties, many countries implement the principle of statutory rights for absolute rights, that is, the principle of absolute rights The nature, type, content, effectiveness, etc. are all clearly stipulated by law, and actors cannot set absolute rights or change the content of absolute rights on their own based on autonomy of will. Our national legislation is no exception. For example, Article 207 of the Civil Code stipulates: "The type and content of property rights shall be prescribed by law." Although my country's Trademark Law does not clearly stipulate that the type and content of trademark rights shall be prescribed by law, as an absolute right, it should also be followed The legal principle of rights. However, although the Trademark Law and relevant judicial interpretations stipulate trademark licenses, they do not clearly define the nature and content of exclusive license rights.

Merely relying on a trademark license contract does not create The absolute power of exclusion and confrontation.

The reason why a trademark exclusive licensee has the right to file The lawsuit is not because it enjoys the absolute right to exclusively license the use of the trademark, but because it has an inherent interest in protecting the exclusive right to use the trademark, and thus has an interest in filing a lawsuit. Under the current legal system, the exclusive license rights obtained by the licensee pursuant to the trademark license contract are notIt is not an absolute right with effect on the world. When the trademark exclusive right holder violates the terms of the trademark exclusive license contract and uses the trademark involved without authorization, the trademark exclusive right holder’s unauthorized use does not constitute an infringement, but a breach of contract. The exclusive licensee can only sue the trademark. The exclusive right holder filed a lawsuit for breach of contract.

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