Die Wiederholungsmarke

Trade marks usually require a high amount of time and money to create. Owners of trade marks have a legitimate interest in defending their exclusive right. It makes sense strategically to register the trade mark for a broad range of goods and services, so the trademark can be defended widely. However, the consequences of revocation for non-use are problematic to the trade mark owner. The trade mark must be used for the registered goods and services. If it is not used in a genuine way, the trade mark expires for those products within five years. To evade the consequences of revocation for non-use, some trade mark owners reapply for an identical trade mark. In this way, the trade mark owner could be granted a new five year period of trade mark protection. This thesis answers the question of how to treat repeated applications for trade marks in German and European trade mark law. In the opinion of the author, repeated applications must be included in the expiration of the original trade mark. von Gaden, Justus