Limiting the Limits of Trademark Rights: A Spanish Perspective

The registration of a trademark grants an exclusive right to its owner in two ways: on the one hand, the exclusive right to use it (ius utendi), and on the other hand, to prevent any third party from using his trademark without his consent (ius prohibendi). However, this exclusive right is not absolute, since European trademark law provides for “limitations to the rights of the trademark”, i.e. exceptions that limit the extent to which the ius prohibendi that the trademark grants to its owner can be exercised. Based on the above, the purpose of this article is to analyse what limitations should be taken into account with respect to the limits regulated by the Law: how far can the ius prohibendi of the trademark owner be limited by making use of the limits legally regulated in the trademark laws of the EU Member States?