p. 32014. Defences to trade mark infringement
- Stavroula KarapapaStavroula KarapapaProfessor of Intellectual Property and Information Law, University of Reading
- and Luke McDonaghLuke McDonaghSenior Lecturer in Law, City, University of London
Abstract
This chapter looks at the various defences against trade mark infringement and the way in which the courts have interpreted them. A defendant's principal argument will be to deny that there has been any infringing conduct, and/or that what has been done is not within the scope of protection given to the registered mark. There are, however, a number of statutory defences. These defences span from the use of one's own name to a framework outlining the conditions of comparative advertisement and the role of exhaustion of rights as a defence to an action for trade mark infringement, including the ways in which the intellectual property owner can object to the parallel importation of non-European Economic Area (EEA) goods.
