A news report came into the public’s notice. Although silver pendants designed in the form of a cross are very common, many stores where cross-designed pendants can be bought recently received legal complaints from a Japanese company. Said company registered stylized cross devices as its trademarks and stated that it would bring lawsuits against any stores who sell similar goods. Many of these stores chose to have reconciliation with this Japanese company. The compensation ranged from several tens of thousands to more than hundreds of thousands. Seeing more and more stores are accused based on the same reason, the question has been arisen among the market: “why is it allowed that goods with a common designed cross device can be registered as a trademark?”

To clarify this issue, TIPO made an announcement on its website. Concerning the question whether it is allowed to produce or sell cross-designed silver pendants if a trademark registration for a cross-designed device has been approved, TIPO stated that if the cross design is three-dimensionalized and used only as a decorative shape of the pendants, consumers will not likely misidentify such cross-designed pendants as one specific company’s goods, it will not be considered use of a trademark, so it is not bound by trademark rights of another person.

After a trademark registration, the trademark owner has rights to prohibit a third person from using an identical or similar trademark in connection with identical or similar goods or services. However, the prerequisite is that said third person uses the design/device as a trademark. Therefore, Article 30-I-1 stipulates that a person who, through means of bona fide and fair use, expresses the shape or other description with respect to the goods or services provided by the same one for non-trademark purposes shall be free a person from being bound by trademark rights of another person. If someone is accused of infringement, this person can file a counterargument based on said article. However, whether the infringement of trademark rights is constituted is ultimately determined by court’s judgment based on facts and evidence.