Challenges of the Knowledge Society (Jun 2022)
BRIEF CONSIDERATIONS REGARDING THE NOTION OF BAD FAITH AT EUROPEAN UNION LEVEL
Abstract
Directive (EU) 2015/2436 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2015 to approximate the laws of the Member States relating to trademarks imposes that all Member States should provide for the invalidation of national trademark registrations that were filed in bad faith. It also leaves to the discretion of Member States the possibility to provide for bad faith as a basis for opposition. Regulation (EU) 2017/1001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 2017 on the European Union trademark establishes that European Union Trademarks can be invalidated if filed in bad faith. However, the notion of bad faith raises difficulties of interpretation, and case law came to determine both general principles in determining it, and specific situations of bad faith. This paper aims to analyse bad faith from the perspective of the most recent European case law
