공유상표권의 소멸 후 주지성의 귀속과 부정경쟁방지법상 상품주체 혼동행위의 적용에 관한 고찰

If there are several owners for a jointly owned trademark right, in case the business on the trademark continues to be carried out by persons who was owners of a jointly owned trademark right or licensees after the extinction of the Jointly owned trademark right, it may be a question whether the wellknownness of the trademark has been inherited to certain people and whether these multiple constituent companies can exercise the right to claim prohibition based on acts of unfair competition where acts causing confusion about the source of a product are established as another person who succeeds or maintains the wellknownness when the Plaintiff is not one person but multiple constituent companies that appear to form a group, This paper examines that in the event of such a division of the jointly owned relationship with the Extinction of a jointly owned well-known trademark right, some joint owners, etc. are considered to be attributable to the wellknownness maintained under the jointly owned trademark right and whether unfair competition acts causing confusion about the the source of a product among consumers can be recognized for the other joint owner who operates separate businesses due to confusion about the subject of the product among consumers. In conclusion, even if a jointly owned trademark right was extinguished at time concluding one´s argument, some joint owners who can be recognized as subjects of wellknownness by managing the use of the trademark actually should be considered to be “another person” in acts causing confusion about the source of a product under the Unfair Competition Prevention Act and have the right to claim prohibition can be exercised against the unfair competitor. In other words, it would be reasonable to prohibit the use of the product mark(trademark) of a defector from the group of the joint owners after the extinction of the jointly owned trademark right, considering it as acts causing confusion about the source of a product under the Unfair Competition Prevention Act, even if the trademark right is extinguished. In this case, it will be possible to seek a one-time resolution of the dispute, such as preventing secondary disputes related to other illegal users in the future, and to guarantee credit and product quality for the product mark recognized among consumers, ultimately protecting consumers and maintaining a sound trade order as the purpose of this Act.