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초록

The topic of this article is the use of trademarks for repaired luxury goods. The issue is what the test for the trademark infringement should be when defendant repairs and resells plaintiff’s used luxury goods without removing plaintiff’s trademark. Part II of this article introduces the search-cost theory, and explains that the function of trademarks is to decrease consumers’ search-cost of finding out unobservable features of a product and to give producers incentives to invest in maintaining the quality of their products. And it is also explained that the trademark right is necessary to guarantee the informative value of a trademark which embodies the information on the quality of its product, and that the search-cost theory can be the ground for the limitation of the trademark right as well as its entitlement. In Part III, the leading U.S. cases on the issue are introduced, and, in Part IV, it is demonstrated that the decisions in those cases can be justified by the search-cost theory, though there are some errors in the circuit court decision in ‘Rolex case.’ The court in ‘Rolex case’ erred in suggesting that the identity of repaired luxury goods is the function of technological importance, not taking account of the consumer's desire of expressive use.

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