The trademark is one of the most important elements of industrial and commercial property, alongside patents, trade names and addresses, industrial designs and models, geographical indications, and the suppression of unfair competition.

Although the subject of trademarks may seem modern, it is in fact as old as time. The use of trademarks by manufacturers or merchants to distinguish their products or goods and to make them easily recognizable to the consumer public was known to the Romans. Manufacturers and traders used to distinguish their products by putting their names or the names of the entities that produced the goods on them to differentiate them from other similar goods. The use of trademarks then spread during the Middle Ages, especially in France and Italy where the guild system prevailed. Each guild had a mark, and craftsmen had to place their own marks on their products alongside the guild's mark to identify the source of production and allow for inspection, otherwise the goods would be subject to destruction. The function of the trademark at that time was to identify the source of production before it evolved to distinguish goods and products.

With the demise of the guild system, the associated regulations regarding compulsory guild marks disappeared, and legal legislation organizing trademarks began to emerge. Some countries enacted legislation covering all elements of industrial and commercial property, as did the Moroccan legislator under Law No. 31.05 amending and supplementing Law No. 17.97 on the protection of industrial property. Other countries regulated trademark provisions with specific legislation, as did the Jordanian legislator in the Trademarks Law No. 33 of 1952, amended by Law No. 15 of 2008. A special law was also issued to regulate the provisions for suppressing unfair competition and trade secrets, named the Unfair Competition and Trade Secrets Law No. 15 of 2000.

However, practical reality proves that trademarks hold a major and important place in the business sector, not only at the national level but also internationally. New products and trademarks appear on the market almost every day, a result of continuous human innovation.

As the world witnesses developments of great economic importance for the future of trade, with the evolution of industrialization and the growth of the free economy, trademarks have begun to play an important role and have become a key factor in the modern world of international trade. People started operating in more than one market to sell their products and services or to license their intellectual property rights, including trademarks, beyond their national borders. It became necessary to protect these individuals from various risks that could threaten their rights to their trademarks, such as unfair competition and infringement on their goods or services through imitation or counterfeiting (forgery).

Therefore, it was important not to be satisfied with regulating these elements, including trademarks, through national laws that did not provide sufficient protection for trademark owners, leading to the loss of their legitimate rights. In response to their calls, countries were able to conclude agreements to regulate various elements of industrial property, including trademarks. The most important agreements in the field of industrial and commercial property, stemming primarily from intellectual property, emerged. These include the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property of 1883, the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks of 1891, the Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks of 1989, the Nice Agreement Concerning the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks of 1957, and the Vienna Agreement Establishing an International Classification of the Figurative Elements of Marks of 1973.

These agreements are mostly supervised by international organizations that monitor their implementation in member states, especially since some of these agreements are not self-executing upon accession, such as the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). Member states must incorporate the provisions of such agreements into their national laws. These organizations also monitor the legislation of member states even after they first implement the agreement's provisions and establish legal means to resolve disputes that may arise between member states, as the World Trade Organization has done and as indicated in the TRIPS Agreement. Some of these organizations have also established international centers for alternative dispute resolution, as the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has done. It established an Arbitration and Mediation Center to resolve intellectual property disputes. We now see many cases related to trademarks being resolved through it, especially those related to a different type of infringement involving the use and registration of domain names on the internet that are identical or similar to trademarks owned by others, causing significant damage to the owners of those trademarks. This leads to misleading and deceiving the consumer public of the goods, products, or services represented by the original trademark. Resolving these issues through such international centers has been the easiest and fastest way compared to ordinary courts, especially given the difficulties faced by ordinary courts in resolving such issues for various reasons, including their virtual environment.

The protection of trademarks, both domestically and internationally, is an urgent necessity for producers, providers of goods and services, and consumers alike to safeguard them from any form of infringement. The protection of industrial and commercial property rights, including trademarks, is a means to promote economic development and is an important tool to encourage individuals and companies to invest and enter with strength and confidence into all parts of the world that regulate the protection of such marks. Therefore, many countries have sought to keep pace with developments in this field by enacting laws to protect trademarks within their borders, taking an important step forward to enhance their ability to attract investors and transfer the latest technology to develop their countries and help them overcome the barrier to entering the international economy. They have thus organized the process of trademark protection by following the legal procedures required for such protection and by concluding bilateral or multilateral agreements with other countries.

The primary function of a trademark is to distinguish the products, goods, and services of the trademark owner from those of its competitors in the market. In other words, it gives the product, good, or service an identity recognized by law, making it exclusive and preventing competitors from using or imitating it. The trademark thus helps the producer, marketer, or service provider to stand out from competitors, enabling them to establish their own identity or specificity within the market and allowing them to capitalize on their efforts. In this sense, the trademark has a legal function, as it is a tool to guarantee the rights of the producer over their products, the marketer over the goods they market, and the service provider over the service they offer.

The trademark also has an economic function, as it is a marketing and advertising tool that a business cannot do without in its marketing strategy. It allows the business to publicize its goods or services, promote them, and distinguish them from those of its competitors, thereby building customer loyalty.

Furthermore, the right to compete is an important factor in commercial development, and straying beyond the limits of lawful competition is also a dangerous factor that restricts that competition. It is therefore considered an act of unfair competition, especially concerning industrial property elements like trademarks, where infringement through misleading imitation is an act of unfair competition. For example, through a trademark, a company can compete with other companies locally and internationally, attract customers, and appeal to the consumer public, thus blocking unfair competition based on exploiting the reputation of others by using similar marks on similar or lower-quality goods or services. Additionally, the trademark serves as a tool for consumer protection, as it makes it easier for them to identify the products or services they desire.

Therefore, based on the above, we will research trademarks and how to protect them in general, as well as attempt to identify acts that constitute unfair competition that may affect trademarks, whether the mark is related to trade, industry, or service, and whether it is ordinary or famous. We will address it under the name of the trademark. To do this, we must define the meaning of forgery and misleading imitation of a trademark to enable us to establish a clear concept of unfair competition acts in the field of trademarks. This will be done by examining the legal texts in comparative legislation, especially Moroccan and Jordanian law, and supporting this with their judicial precedents and comparing it with what is stated in international agreements on this matter.

ISBN: 9789957169329
Weight: 1.100 kg
Dimensions: 17×24 cm
Paper: White
Pages: 544
Year of Publication: 2017
Binding: Hardcover