بررسی وضعیت و چالش‌های ثبت علائم تجاری محصولات دارویی در اتحادیه اروپا

Background and aim: The registration of trademarks related to pharmaceutical trademarks in the European ::union:: in comparison with other trademarks requires more complicated and longer procedure. Respecting health hazards posed by medicine errors, determination of an appropriate legal framework is of particular importance. This article addresses such difficulties and complicity, and reviews and analyses the case-law approach to those challenges. The method used in this Article is descriptive-analytical. Data have been compiled by bibliotheca methods through taking notes from relevant sources. The collected data have been analyzed in light of regulations and courts decisions. On the one hand, in addition to normal application-based procedure required at trademark offices, pharmaceutical trademarks must be examined and approved prior to utilization by health-related authorities because of their impact on public health. On the other hand, the length of this approval process could put the validity of many registered pharmaceutical trademarks at risk in light of genuine use requirement, because such trademarks cannot be used in the market before obtaining the public-health-related authorization. Moreover, the particular criteria governing the assessment of the likelihood of confusion add more complicity to the difficulties with the registration of pharmaceutical trademarks. When deciding on a proposed trademark and a prior mark, the difference between the consumers’ knowledge that includes not only medicine and medical staff, but also patients poses challenges on how to evaluate the risk of confusion between those marks. When assessing a likelihood of confusion, healthcare professionals and end-users should be considered. Also, in assessing the similarity of the goods or services concerned, factors such as their nature, their end users intended purpose and their method of use and whether they are in competition with each other or are complementary should be taken into account. Please cite this article as: Erfanmanesh MH, Zahedi M, Abbasi M. Examination of Status and Challenges of Pharmaceutical Trademarks Registration in European ::union::. Iran J Med Law 2016; 10(36): 127-150.