Анотація | Abstract
The study examined the formation of modern semantic content of the legislative concept of "sign for the goods and services» in the civil law of the last century in the context of its identical sense with the " trademark ", used in Civil Code of Ukraine, and the corresponding foreign language concept in the international legislation. The article presents the needs of the application of these concepts in law enforcement and educational activities.
In particular, the authors have analyzed the changes of both legal term “trademark” and the terms of its registration in detail since 1896. The authors admitted that due to the socio-economic conditions of the domination of interests of the state and the unification of production in Bolshevik Russia and later in the USSR, the practice was legally fixed until 1936, when the trademark lost its identification function and its use was carried out mainly for fiscal purposes or for economic planning needs.
It is emphasized that situation had persisted until the early 1970s, when, by the subsequent codification of civil law, the “irrelevant” concept of the trademark remained unregulated at the level of codes and laws.
Reducing the level of the regulation of the term "trademark" (by-laws) led to the emergence of four synonymous concepts and the erosion of the basic concept of the trademark, which prevented its understanding and practical use over the next several decades.
According to the authors, the transition to market principles of economic management in the early 2000s forced the Soviet legislator to return to the practice of defining the term "trademark" in laws and codified acts. The legislation system of the independent Ukraine borrowed this relevant practice which is still being used, illustrating current national legislation. Today "trademark" is mainly used the universal term.
It is emphasized that the relevant historical and legal realities in the form of many semantically similar concepts objectively cause difficulties for students to understand the legal nature of the trademark as an object of legal protection. The conclusions suggest the first steps to overcome this problem.