Abstract:
A trademark which helps to distinguish goods
of one undertaking from that of another is an important
stimulus for manufacture of goods and services. In
particular when it comes to well-known trademarks,
the value attached to the mark exceeds the total value of
assets of such an undertaking. A strong protection for
these trademarks are required to protect the interest of the
owners of these trademarks. The Intellectual Property Act
No 36 of 2003 governs the law relating to the protection
of both trademarks and well-known trademarks. As a
member state to the TRIPS agreement, Sri Lanka is obliged
to meet the minimum standards set out in the TRIPS
agreement regarding the protection afforded to intellectual
property rights in order to enjoy the benefits granted
by the agreement. This paper is aimed at answering the
questions of,what is the current status of the law relating
to the protection of well-known trade marks in Sri Lanka,
its international obligations, protections afforded to wellknown
trademarks through exclusive and additional
measures, the limitations of the current system and some
possible reforms that could be made. The research is
conducted using a qualitative method, where it uses the
primary legal sources of the Intellectual Property Act No
36 of 2003, the Trips Agreement and the decided case
law. As secondary data, it uses the commentaries given
on the relevant sections by reputed authors.The results of
the research indicate that, most of the provisions of the IP
Act are compatible with the TRIPS agreement. However,
the results also indicate that, with regard to the protection
of well-known trademarks there are some lacunas, such
as unregistered marks not having exclusive rights, nonregistrability
of sound marks and the non-availability of
a single application process for multiple registration in
different countries. It is therefore suggested that these
lacunas be remedied.
