A collective trademark, collective trade mark, or collective mark is a
trademark
A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a form of intellectual property that consists of a word, phrase, symbol, design, or a combination that identifies a Good (economics and accounting), product or Service (economics), service f ...
owned by an organization (such as an association), used by its members to identify themselves with a level of quality or accuracy, geographical origin, or other characteristics set by the organization.
Collective trademarks are exceptions to the underlying principle of trademarks in that most trademarks serve as "badges of origin"; they indicate the individual source of the goods or services. A collective trademark, however, can be used by a variety of traders, rather than just one individual concern, provided that the trader belongs to the association.
Collective trademarks differ from
certification marks. The main difference is that collective trademarks may be used by particular members of the organization which owns them, while certification marks may be used by anybody who complies with the standards defined by the owner of the particular certification mark. All these factors are being completely at the level of intellectual property.
Regulations on use
National trademark laws in some countries (such as
Finland
Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...
,
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
,
Hungary
Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...
and
Switzerland
Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
) provide for the filing of the regulations as an additional requirement for registration of the collective trademark.
The regulations shall normally specify:
* the name and seat of the organization,
* information on the members authorized to use the collective trademark, including their names, addresses and seats,
* the conditions of membership,
* the conditions of use of the collective trademark,
* the prescriptions relating to the control of the use of the collective trademark,
* the order of proceedings against unauthorized use of the collective trademark.
The main purpose of the regulations is to protect consumers against misleading practices.
International treaties
Many jurisdictions have been required to amend their trademark legislation in order to accommodate the requirement of protection of collective marks under
TRIPs. Art. 7 ''bis'' of the
Paris Convention also requires signatories "to accept for filing and to protect collective marks belonging to associations the existence of which is not contrary to the law of the country of origin, even if such organizations do not possess an industrial or commercial establishment."
Examples
Examples of collective trademarks include:
* the "CA" device used by the Institute of Chartered
Accountants;
* the mark "CPA", used to indicate members of the Society of
Certified Public Accountants; and,
* the marks of various confederated
lobby groups.
Related cases
* The Parma Ham case
991RPC 251, in which the '' Consorzio del
Prosciutto di Parma'' sued for passing off their unregistered collective mark;
* ''Association of Certified Public Accountants v. Trade Secretary''
9981 WLR 164.
References
See also
*
Certification mark
{{Trademark law
Trademark law