zurück
Dissertation
Immaterialgüter- und Wettbewerbsrecht

The Effect of Trademark Rights on the East African Common Market – Concocting an Appropriate East African Community Trade Mark Model Based on the European Trade Mark System

National trademark systems impact on the functioning of a regional common market such as that of the East African Community (EAC). The aim of this research project is to investigate the effects of trade mark rights on the EAC common market and to propose a solution thereto.

Letzte Änderung: 01.02.12

To achieve this end, the research findings are presented in seven chapters whereby chapter 1 serves a general introductory purpose. Chapter 2 scrutinises circumstances under which national trade mark systems of the EAC States may affect the common market and depicts the absence of a uniform trade mark regime in the EAC as a factor that may encourage trade mark proprietors to invoke their protected rights in a manner that counteracts key tenets underlying the proper functioning of the EAC common market such as the principle of free movement of goods – a principle which is scrutinised in chapter 3. In relation to this principle, the chapter observes that the general rule of free movement of goods does not guarantee free circulation of branded goods across the entire EAC area and attempts to develop an alternative regulation of the free movement of branded goods based on the principal functions of trade marks and international rules enshrined in TRIPS and GATT.

A proposal for a Community trade mark regime that could possibly suit the EAC common market is presented in chapter 7, and is, by and large, modelled on the EU trade mark system. To pave a way for this proposal, chapter 4 outlines the EU trade mark system, by setting out substantive and procedural principles governing creation, protection and termination of EU’s regional trade mark rights. On its part, chapter 5 offers a discourse on how the interplay between the national trade mark regimes of the EU Member States and the Community trade mark regime is achieved. This is followed by an examination, in chapter 6, of the free movement regime of branded goods in the EU common market.

Personen

Doktorand/in

Niteleka Jaconiah

Doktorvater/-mutter

Prof. Dr. Annette Kur; Prof. Dr. Möllers

Forschungsschwerpunkte

Territorialität und ihre Bedeutung für das Internationale Immaterialgüterrecht