FUNDAMENTAL CRITERIA FOR DETERMINING THE RISK OF CONFUSION REGARDING THE PRODUCT ORIGIN IN TRADEMARK LAW

Abstract

The risk of confusion regarding the product's origin is one of the fundamental concepts of trademark law because marking the origin is the original function of the trademark. "To ascertain this substitution, the criteria outlined in Article 10 of Directive No. 89/104 are employed, which then were developed in court practice. By looking at all the criteria and their mutual relationship, we can conclude that there is a danger of confusion regarding the origin. At the same time, the lower intensity of one can be compensated by the higher intensity of the other. Thus, a low degree of similarity of marks can be compensated by a high degree of similarity of products and vice versa.