| Summary: | 碩士 === 東吳大學 === 法律學系 === 101 === In 2011, Christian Louboutin, S.A. (Louboutin) filed a trademark infringement claim of its red-soled shoes against Yves Saint Laurent America, Inc. (YSL). In September 2012, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit rendered its decision which reversed the lower court’s decision and held that Louboutin’s red sole is a valid trademark and that it had acquired secondary meaning. The court also ruled that Louboutin retains the exclusive right to use the color red on the bottom of its shoes whenever the lacquered red sole contrasts in color with the adjoining upper of the shoes, while YSL can continue to sell its shoes with red soles as long as the whole shoe is red.
From the case mentioned above, we may realize that, to the consumers, color has become a strong way to identify the source of the good. In Taiwan, color trademark was introduced into the new type of trademark since November 28, 2003. As one new type of trademarks, color trademark must comply with requirements that apply to traditional trademarks as well. In other words, it has to obtain the distinctiveness before being registered as a trademark. However, the eligibility of single colors for use as a trademark only exists if it has acquired secondary meaning - if it acts as a strong identifier of source of the goods.
This study will discuss from comparative legal perspectives and review whether any problems exist in the Taiwan’s examination practice of the color trademark by analyzing and comparaing the United States, the European Union and Australia’s color trademark practice and single color trademark cases.
To discuss and resolve the questions mentioned above, this study is divided into eight charpters:
Chapter One: Introduction, stating the motivation, the purpose, the methods and the scope of this study.
Chapter Two: An introduction to trademarks, explaining the developments and types of traditional tradeamrks, non- traditional tradeamrks and color trademarks.
Chapter Three: Requirements for trademark protection, introducing concepts of distinctiveness, the secondary meaning and the functionality doctrine.
Chapter Four: An introduction of color trademarks in the U.S., introducing the history and applications of color trademarks and discussing the case “Christian Louboutin S.A. v. Yves Saint Laurent America, Inc.”.
Chapter Five: An introduction of color trademarks in other countries, introducing the history, applications and cases of color trademarks in the European Union and Australia.
Chapter Six: An introduction of color trademarks in Taiwan, introducing the history, applications and cases of color trademarks in Taiwan and commenting on the actual and potential problems in the examination practice.
Chapter Seven: Laws in relation to color trademarks, discussing issues of color trademarks in Patent Act, Copyright Act and Fair Trade Act.
Chapter Eight: Conclusion, intending to propose feasible suggestions on how to examine and register color trademarks in Taiwan.
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