Chapter 8 Certification Marks, Collective Membership Marks and Collective Trademarks

Article 72 Certification Marks

Any person who wishes to exclusively use a mark to certify the characteristics, quality, precision, place of origin or other matters of another person's goods or services shall apply for certification mark registration.
Only a juristic person, an organization or a government agency which is capable of certifying another person's goods or services shall be eligible to apply for certification mark registration.
An applicant of the preceding paragraph who engages in business in connection with the goods or services to be certified shall not apply for certification mark registration thereof.

Article 73 Definition of “certification mark use”

The use of a certification mark shall connote that the right holder of a certification mark, in order to certify the characteristics, quality, precision, origin or other matters of another person's goods or services, agrees the said person to indicate the said certification mark on articles or documents in connection with the said goods or services.

Article 74 Collective marks

Any business association, social organization, or any other group that exists as a juristic person and wishes to exclusively use a mark to identify its organization or membership shall apply for collective membership mark registration.
An application for collective membership mark registration of the preceding paragraph shall be filed with the Registrar Office by submitting in writing specifying relevant matters along with a set of articles governing the use of the collective membership mark thereto.

Article 75 Definition of “collective mark use”

The use of a collective membership mark shall connote the indication of such mark on relevant articles or documents by the organization or its members in order to identify an organization or membership thereof.

Article 76 Collective trademarks

Any business association, social organization, or any other group that exists as a juristic person and wishes to exclusively use a mark to identify the goods or services provided by its members, and therefore distinguishing these goods or services from those provided by others, may apply for collective trademark registration.
An application for collective trademark registration of the preceding paragraph shall be filed with the Registrar Office by submitting in writing specifying the designated class(es) and the name(s) of goods or services along with the a set of articles governing the use of the collective trademark thereto.

Article 77 Definition of “collective trademark use”

The use of a collective trademark shall connote that, in order to identify the goods or services provided by members of an organization, the said members use the collective trademark on their goods or services whereby these goods or services may be distinguished from those provided by others.

Article 78 Assignment, license and pledge subject to certain conditions

The right of a certification mark, a collective membership mark or a collective trademark shall not be assigned or licensed to another person for use, nor may it be the subject of a pledge. However, the aforementioned shall not apply in the case where such assignment or license to another person for use is unlikely to damage the interests of consumers, to contravene fair competition, and has been approved by the Registrar Office.

Article 79 Grounds for cancellation

The Registrar Office shall, upon request by any person or ex officio, revoke the registration of a certification mark, a collective membership mark or a collective trademark in the case where misuse of which by the right holder or the licensed user thereof has caused damages to another person or the public.
The term, misuse, referred to in the preceding paragraph shall connote any of the following conditions:
1. Where a certification mark is used as a trademark or indicated on articles or documents in connection with the goods or services provided by the right holder of the said certification mark;
2. Where the use of a collective membership mark or collective trademark has misled the general public regarding the nature of the organization thereof;
3. Where assignment, licensing, or creation of pledge is established in violation of the provisions of the preceding article;
4. One that has violated the set of articles governing the use thereof; or
5. One that is misused in other means.

Article 80 Applicability of provisions relating to trademarks