DOI: 10.36347/sjahss.2019.v07i04.003

Pages: 271-277

Growing international trade and the transnational commerce have provided a fertile field for new trademark disputes both at geographical level and virtual level which has not only given rise to multiplicity of disputes but also have raised novel issues and challenges. The article focuses on how such novel trademark disputes and their multiplicity have posed numerous challenges for expanding the legislative as well as fundamental trademark concepts before any country. The article further deals with the comparative analysis of trademark protection in Japan and USA. A specific attempt is made to study the legislative and judicial approaches in these countries in dealing with issues of jurisdiction in comparison with India that may arise in the trans-border trademark issue in physical as well as virtual world. It is worthy to mention that while drawing comparison the entire scheme of the trademark legislation of Japan and USA is not minutely analyzed. Relevant aspects of the legislation of respective countries that are corresponding to the scheme of the research are only considered. The article concludes with an observation that the courts in these countries would by and large assert international jurisdiction when there is a close connection between the dispute and the forum. The courts in both civil as well as common law system are attempting to apply and adapt the traditional rule of jurisdiction in case of cross border cases. The task becomes more difficult when the dispute involves more than one country.