Economic and Legal Frameworks for Non-Prescription Medicines 2004 studied by AESGP 5. USE OF TRADEMARKS (BRAND NAMES) Trademarks, as one of the intellectual industrial properties, fall under the jurisdiction of the Patent Office. The use of trademarks for pharmaceuticals is, therefore, governed by the Patent Office under the Trade Mark Law, Law Nr. 127 of 13 April 1959, as amended. In principle, the brand name of a medicine can be freely chosen, but in order to maintain the dignity of medicines and to protect public health and hygiene, approvals may not be granted for some names partly listed below:   False or exaggerated names Names showing incorrect composition Names using part of the indications Names employing unapproved indications Names lacking dignity Names inconsistent with dose forms Names the same as those of the medicines already approved Names the same as the registered trade marks of other firms. In principle, the same trademark can be used for medicines from the same product group. However, as for medicines which are not completely identical (namely, those with slightly different active ingredients, quantities, indications or effects, etc.), XXX-A, XXX -B, etc. (XXX being the trademark in question) need to be used in order to differentiate medicine A from medicine B. Use of the same trademark for medicines from different product groups would definitely lead to misuse or confusion on the side of the users, therefore, it can not be used. The same trademark is acceptable for Rx and OTC forms of the same product in case XXX (for either Rx or OTC) and XXX -A (for either OTC or Rx) are used. There may be cases where the same trademark is used for a medicine and for another product. This can only happen provided the trademark applied for the medicine has cleared the conditions set by MHLW and the same trademark has been granted registration in a category other than pharmaceuticals by the Patent Office based on the judgement of the Patent Office that coexistence of the same trademark in the two different categories will not cause any undue confusion or disadvantage to the interested parties and persons. The same trademark for a medicine and for another product category should however belong to entirely different parties or persons. This means that no medicine manufacturer will be allowed to apply for registration of his/her trademark for both medicines and other products.