WELL-KNOWN AND REPUTED TRADEMARK (OR FAMOUS TRADEMARKS)

[...]while the first founding Convention of industrial property law grants a special regime to well-known marks, even if it recognises a certain (limited) power of notoriety, this one, like the Agreement on Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), says nothing about well-known marks. Trademarks with an initial protection regime under common law and which, when they become well-known because of the quality of the goods or services they identify and the widespread awareness of the public concerned, enjoy a different protection regime from well-known trademarks and a much higher level of protection than common trademarks. For the average consumer (who rarely has the opportunity to make a direct comparison between different marks, relying on an imperfect image which he keeps in his memory and whose attention varies according to the category of goods or services in question1) the only important thing is that the mark helps him in his choice, that through it he can identify the commercial origin of the product or service, that the mark gives him a guarantee of the quality of the product/service and the possibility to revise his choices when a product/service which he identifies by the mark does not (any more) meet his expectations. [...]the Directive (EU) 2436/2015: (i) established the protection of trade marks with reputation (reputed) about which the Paris Convention is silent, or perhaps (probably) considered them to be the same as well-known trademarks and (ii) under the regime established in EU law, marks of reputation enjoy protection going beyond the specialty of the registered trademark, which means that the trade mark of reputation actually enjoys extended protection.