7/28/2019 Image De Mark I
A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark[1] is a recognizable sign, design, or expression which identifies products or services of a particular source from those of others,[2][3] although trademarks used to identify services are usually called service marks.[4][5] The trademark owner can be an individual, business organization, or any legal entity. A trademark may be located on a package, a label, a voucher, or on the product itself. For the sake of corporate identity, trademarks are often displayed on company buildings. It is legally recognized as a type of intellectual property.
The first legislative act concerning trademarks was passed in 1266 under the reign of Henry III, requiring all bakers to use a distinctive mark for the bread they sold.[citation needed] The first modern trademark laws emerged in the late 19th century. In France the first comprehensive trademark system in the world was passed into law in 1857. The Trade Marks Act 1938 of the United Kingdom changed the system, permitting registration based on 'intent-to-useâ, creating an examination based process, and creating an application publication system. The 1938 Act, which served as a model for similar legislation elsewhere, contained other novel concepts such as 'associated trademarks', a consent to use system, a defensive mark system, and non claiming right system.
The symbols ⢠(the trademark symbol) and ® (the registered trademark symbol) can be used to indicate trademarks; the latter is only for use by the owner of a trademark that has been registered.
Usage[edit]
A trademark identifies the brand owner of a particular product or service. Trademarks can be used by others under licensing agreements; for example, Bullyland obtained a license to produce Smurf figurines; the Lego Group purchased a license from Lucasfilm in order to be allowed to launch Lego Star Wars; TT Toys Toys is a manufacturer of licensed ride-on replica cars for children.[6] The unauthorized usage of trademarks by producing and trading counterfeit consumer goods is known as brand piracy.
The owner of a trademark may pursue legal action against trademark infringement. Most countries require formal registration of a trademark as a precondition for pursuing this type of action. The United States, Canada and other countries also recognize common law trademark rights, which means action can be taken to protect an unregistered trademark if it is in use. Still, common law trademarks offer the holder, in general, less legal protection than registered trademarks.
Designation[edit]
A trademark may be designated by the following symbols:
Styles[edit]
A trademark is typically a name, word, phrase, logo, symbol, design, image, or a combination of these elements.[7] There is also a range of non-conventional trademarks comprising marks which do not fall into these standard categories, such as those based on colour, smell, or sound (like jingles). Trademarks which are considered offensive are often rejected according to a nation's trademark law.[8]
The term trademark is also used informally to refer to any distinguishing attribute by which an individual is readily identified, such as the well-known characteristics of celebrities. When a trademark is used in relation to services rather than products, it may sometimes be called a service mark, particularly in the United States.[7]
Fundamental concepts[edit]
The essential function of a trademark is to exclusively identify the commercial source or origin of products or services, so a trademark, properly called, indicates source or serves as a badge of origin. In other words, trademarks serve to identify a particular business as the source of goods or services. The use of a trademark in this way is known as trademark use. Certain exclusive rights attach to a registered mark.
Trademark rights generally arise out of the use of, or to maintain exclusive rights over, that sign in relation to certain products or services, assuming there are no other trademark objections.
Different goods and services have been classified by the International (Nice) Classification of Goods and Services into 45 Trademark Classes (1 to 34 cover goods, and 35 to 45 cover services). The idea behind this system is to specify and limit the extension of the intellectual property right by determining which goods or services are covered by the mark, and to unify classification systems around the world.
History[edit]
In trademark treatises it is usually reported that blacksmiths who made swords in the Roman Empire are thought of as being the first users of trademarks.[9] Other notable trademarks that have been used for a long time include Löwenbräu, which claims use of its lion mark since 1383.[10] The first trademark legislation was passed by the Parliament of England under the reign of King Henry III in 1266, which required all bakers to use a distinctive mark for the bread they sold.[11]
The first modern trademark laws emerged in the late 19th century. In France the first comprehensive trademark system in the world was passed into law in 1857 with the 'Manufacture and Goods Mark Act'. In Britain, the Merchandise Marks Act 1862 made it a criminal offence to imitate another's trade mark 'with intent to defraud or to enable another to defraud'. In 1875, the Trade Marks Registration Act was passed which allowed formal registration of trade marks at the UK Patent Office for the first time. Registration was considered to comprise prima facie evidence of ownership of a trade mark and registration of marks began on 1 January 1876. The 1875 Act defined a registrable trade mark as 'a device, or mark, or name of an individual or firm printed in some particular and distinctive manner; or a written signature or copy of a written signature of an individual or firm; or a distinctive label or ticket'.[12]
In the United States, Congress first attempted to establish a federal trademark regime in 1870. This statute purported to be an exercise of Congress' Copyright Clause powers. However, the Supreme Court struck down the 1870 statute in the Trade-Mark Cases later on in the decade. In 1881, Congress passed a new trademark act, this time pursuant to its Commerce Clause powers. Congress revised the Trademark Act in 1905.[13] The Lanham Act of 1946 updated the law and has served, with several amendments, as the primary federal law on trademarks.[14]
The Trade Marks Act 1938 in the United Kingdom set up the first registration system based on the âintent-to-useâ principle. The Act also established an application publishing procedure and expanded the rights of the trademark holder to include the barring of trademark use even in cases where confusion remained unlikely. This Act served as a model for similar legislation elsewhere.[15]
Oldest registered trademarks[edit]
Bass Brewery's logo became the first image to be registered as a trademark in the UK, in 1876[16]
The oldest registered trademark has various different claimants, enumerated below:
Symbols[edit]
The two symbols associated with trademarks, ⢠(the trademark symbol) and ® (the registered trademark symbol), represent the status of a mark and accordingly its level of protection. While ⢠can be used with any common law usage of a mark, ® may only be used by the owner of a mark following registration with the relevant national authority, such as the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO or PTO). The proper manner to display either symbol is immediately following the mark in superscript style.
Terminology[edit]
Approximate drawing of Burberry check pattern. The pattern is a registered trademark of Burberry Ltd.
Terms such as 'mark', 'brand' and 'logo' are sometimes used interchangeably with 'trademark'. 'Trademark', however, also includes any device, brand, label, name, signature, word, letter, numerical, shape of goods, packaging, colour or combination of colours, smell, sound, movement or any combination thereof which is capable of distinguishing goods and services of one business from those of others. It must be capable of graphical representation and must be applied to goods or services for which it is registered.
Specialized types of trademark include certification marks, collective trademarks and defensive trademarks. A trademark which is popularly used to describe a product or service (rather than to distinguish the product or services from those of third parties) is sometimes known as a genericized trademark. If such a mark becomes synonymous with that product or service to the extent that the trademark owner can no longer enforce its proprietary rights, the mark becomes generic.
A 'trademark look' is an informal term for a characteristic look for a performer or character of some sort. It is usually not legally trademark protected and the term is not used in the trademark law.
Registration[edit]
Some law considers a trademark to be a form of property. Proprietary rights in relation to a trademark may be established through actual use of that trademark in the marketplace or through registration of the mark with the relevant trademarks office (or 'trademarks registry') of a particular jurisdiction. In some jurisdictions, trademark rights can be established through either or both means. Certain jurisdictions[which?] generally do not recognize trademarks rights arising merely through use. If trademark owners do not hold registrations for their marks in such jurisdictions, the extent to which they will be able to enforce their rights through trademark infringement proceedings may be limited. In cases of dispute, this disparity of rights is often referred to as 'first to file' (i.e., register) as opposed to 'first to use.' Some countries, such as Germany, offer a limited amount of common law rights for unregistered marks where to gain protection, the goods or services must first occupy a highly significant position in the marketplace â where this could be 40% or more market share for sales in the particular class of goods or services.
In the United States, the registration process includes several steps. First, the trademark owner files an application[with whom?] to register the trademark. About three months after it is filed, the application is reviewed by an examining attorney at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The examining attorney checks for compliance with the rules of the Trademark Manual of Examination Procedure. This review includes procedural matters such as making sure the applicant's goods or services are identified properly. It also includes more substantive matters such as making sure the applicant's mark is not merely descriptive or likely to cause confusion with a pre-existing applied-for or registered mark. If the application runs afoul of any requirement, the examining attorney will issue an office action requiring the applicant to address certain issues or refusals prior to registration of the mark. If the examining attorney approves the application, it will be 'published for opposition.' During this 30-day period third parties who may be affected by the registration of the trademark may step forward to file an Opposition Proceeding to stop the registration of the mark. If an Opposition proceeding is filed it institutes a case before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board to determine both the validity of the grounds for the opposition as well as the ability of the applicant to register the mark at issue. Finally, provided that no third-party opposes the registration of the mark during the opposition period or the opposition is ultimately decided in the applicant's favor, the mark will be registered in due course.
Outside of the United States the registration process is substantially similar to that found in the U.S. save for one notable exception in many countries: registration occurs prior to the opposition proceeding. In short, once an application is reviewed by an examiner and found to be entitled to registration a registration certificate is issued subject to the mark being open to opposition for a period of typically 6 months from the date of registration.
A registered trademark confers a bundle of exclusive rights upon the registered owner, including the right to exclusive use of the mark in relation to the products or services for which it is registered. The law in most jurisdictions also allows the owner of a registered trademark to prevent unauthorized use of the mark in relation to products or services which are identical or 'colourfully similar' to existing registered products or services, and in certain cases, prevent use in relation to entirely dissimilar ones. The test is always whether a consumer of the goods or services will be confused as to the identity of the source or origin, not just the area of rights specified by the trademark. An example might be a very large multinational electronics brand such as Sony Corporation where a non-electronic product such as a pair of sunglasses might be assumed by a consumer to have come from Sony Corporation of Japan despite being outside a class of goods to which Sony has rights, yet still protected by Sony's trademark; a similarly-named psychotherapy office or line of hamburger buns or summer camps, however, would not be infringing on Sony Corporation's trademark because the service or products being offered are so vastly different from Sony Corporation's trademark claim of rights and range of manufactured goods.
Once trademark rights are established in a particular jurisdiction, these rights are generally only enforceable in that jurisdiction, a quality which is sometimes known as 'territoriality'. However, there is a range of international trademark laws and systems which facilitate the protection of trademarks in more than one jurisdiction.
Search[edit]
Binding of isaac rebirth characters. In the United States the USPTO maintains a database of registered trademarks. The database is open to the public. A licensed attorney may be required to interpret the search results. As trademarks are governed by federal law, state law, and common law, a thorough search as to the availability of a mark is very important. In the United States obtaining a trademark search and relying upon the results of an opinion issued by an attorney may insulate a trademark user from being required to pay treble damages and attorney's fees in a trademark infringement case as it demonstrates that the trademark user performed due diligence and was using the mark in good faith. The USPTO internally captures more information about trademarks than what they publicly disclose on their official search website, such as the complete contents of every logo trademark filing.
Trademarks may also be searched on third-party databases such as LexisNexis, Dialog, and CompuMark.
Within the European Union, searches have to be conducted taking into account both EU Trademarks as well as national trademarks.
Classification systems exist to help in searching for marks. One example is the 'International Classification of the Figurative Elements of Marks', better known as the Vienna Classification.
Ability to register[edit]
In most systems, a trademark can be registered if it is able to distinguish the goods or services of a party, will not confuse consumers about the relationship between one party and another, and will not otherwise deceive consumers with respect to the qualities.
Distinctive character[edit]
A trademark may be eligible for registration, or registerable, if it performs the essential trademark function, and has distinctive character. Registerability can be understood as a continuum, with 'inherently distinctive' marks at one end, 'generic' and 'descriptive' marks with no distinctive character at the other end, and 'suggestive' and 'arbitrary' marks lying between these two points. 'Descriptive' marks must acquire distinctiveness through secondary meaning â consumers have come to recognize the mark as a source indicator â to be protectable. 'Generic' terms are used to refer to the product or service itself and cannot be used as trademarks. (See the KitKat v Cadbury case.[24])
Maintaining rights[edit]
Trademarks rights must be maintained through actual lawful use of the trademark. These rights will cease if a mark is not actively used for a period of time, normally 5 years in most jurisdictions. In the case of a trademark registration, failure to actively use the mark in the lawful course of trade, or to enforce the registration in the event of infringement, may also expose the registration itself to become liable for an application for the removal from the register after a certain period of time on the grounds of 'non-use'.
It is not necessary for a trademark owner to take enforcement action against all infringement if it can be shown that the owner perceived the infringement to be minor and inconsequential. This is designed to prevent owners from continually being tied up in litigation for fear of cancellation. An owner can at any time commence action for infringement against a third party as long as it had not previously notified the third party of its discontent following third party use and then failed to take action within a reasonable period of time (called acquiescence). The owner can always reserve the right to take legal action until a court decides that the third party had gained notoriety which the owner 'must' have been aware of. It will be for the third party to prove their use of the mark is substantial as it is the onus of a company using a mark to check they are not infringing previously registered rights. In the US, owing to the overwhelming number of unregistered rights, trademark applicants are advised to perform searches not just of the trademark register but of local business directories and relevant trade press. Specialized search companies perform such tasks prior to application.
All jurisdictions with a mature trademark registration system provide a mechanism for removal in the event of such non use, which is usually a period of either three or five years. The intention to use a trademark can be proven by a wide range of acts as shown in the 'Wooly Bull' and Aston v Harlee cases.
In the U.S., failure to use a trademark for this period of time will result in abandonment of the mark, whereby any party may use the mark. An abandoned mark is not irrevocably in the public domain, but may instead be re-registered by any party[1] which has re-established exclusive and active use, and must be associated or linked with the original mark owner. A mark is registered in conjunction with a description of a specific type of goods, and if the party uses the mark but in conjunction with a different type of goods, the mark may still be considered abandoned, as was the case in Lens.com, Inc. v. 1-800 Contacts, Inc. If a court rules that a trademark has become 'generic' through common use (such that the mark no longer performs the essential trademark function and the average consumer no longer considers that exclusive rights attach to it), the corresponding registration may also be ruled invalid.
Unlike other forms of intellectual property (e.g., patents and copyrights) a registered trademark can, theoretically, last forever. So long as a trademark's use is continuous a trademark holder may keep the mark registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office by filing Section 8 Affidavit(s) of Continuous Use as well as Section 9 Applications for renewal, as required, and paying the fees associated with them.
Specifically, once registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office the owner of a trademark is required to file a Section 8 Affidavit of Continuous Use to maintain the registration between the 5th and 6th year anniversaries of the registration of the mark or during the 6-month grace period following the 6th anniversary of the registration.[25] During this period, a trademark owner may concurrently opt to file a Section 15, Declaration of Incontestability. A mark declared incontestable is immune from future challenge, except in instances where the mark becomes generic, the mark is abandoned, or if the registration was acquired fraudulently. Note, if the Section 8 Affidavit is filed during the 6-month grace period additional fees to file the Affidavit with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office will apply.[26]
In addition to requirement above, U.S. trademark registrations are also required to be renewed on or about every 10-year anniversary of the registration of the trademark. The procedure for 10-year renewals is somewhat different from that for the 5th-6th year renewal. In brief, registrants are required to file both a Section 8 Affidavit of Continuous Use as well as a Section 9 Application for Renewal every ten years to maintain their registration.[27]
Enforcing rights[edit]
The extent to which a trademark owner may prevent unauthorized use of trademarks which are the same as or similar to its trademark depends on various factors such as whether its trademark is registered, the similarity of the trademarks involved, the similarity of the products or services involved, and whether the owner's trademark is well known or, under U.S. law relating to trademark dilution, famous.
If a trademark has not been registered, some jurisdictions (especially Common Law countries) offer protection for the businessreputation or goodwill which attaches to unregistered trademarks through the tort of passing off. Passing off may provide a remedy in a scenario where a business has been trading under an unregistered trademark for many years, and a rival business starts using the same or a similar mark.
If a trademark has been registered, then it is much easier for the trademark owner to demonstrate its trademark rights and to enforce these rights through an infringement action[28]. Unauthorized use of a registered trademark need not be intentional in order for infringement to occur, although damages in an infringement lawsuit will generally be greater if there was an intention to deceive.
For trademarks which are considered to be well known, infringing use may occur where the use occurs in relation to products or services which are not the same as or similar to the products or services in relation to which the owner's mark is registered.A growing area of law relating to the enforcement of trademark rights is secondary liability, which allows for the imputation of liability to one who has not acted directly to infringe a trademark but whose legal responsibility may arise under the doctrines of either contributory or vicarious liability.[29]
Limits and defenses to claims of infringement[edit]
Trademark is subject to various defenses, such as abandonment, limitations on geographic scope, and fair use. In the United States, the fair use defence protects many of the interests in free expression related to those protected by the First Amendment.
A product bearing 'Linux' name, but not infringing the trademark owned by Linus Torvalds, because it falls into a different category
Fair use may be asserted on two grounds, either that the alleged infringer is using the mark to describe accurately an aspect of its products, or that the alleged infringer is using the mark to identify the mark owner. One of the most visible proofs that trademarks provide a limited right in the U.S. comes from the comparative advertising that is seen throughout U.S. media.[30]
![]()
An example of the first type is that although Maytag owns the trademark 'Whisper Quiet' for its dishwashers, makers of other products may describe their goods as being 'whisper quiet' so long as these products do not fall under the same category of goods the trademark is protected under.
An example of the second type is that Audi can run advertisements saying that a trade publication has rated an Audi model higher than a BMW model, since they are only using 'BMW' to identify the competitor. In a related sense, an auto mechanic can truthfully advertise that he services Volkswagens,[31] and a former PlayboyPlaymate of the Year can identify herself as such on her website.[32]
Wrongful or groundless threats of infringement[edit]
Various jurisdictions have laws which are designed to prevent trademark owners from making wrongful threats of trademark infringement action against other parties. These laws are intended to prevent large or powerful companies from intimidating or harassing smaller companies.
Where one party makes a threat to sue another for trademark infringement, but does not have a genuine basis or intention to carry out that threat, or does not carry out the threat at all within a certain period, the threat may itself become a basis for legal action.[33] In this situation, the party receiving such a threat may seek from the Court a declaratory judgment; also known as a declaratory ruling.
Other aspects[edit]Public policy[edit]
Trademark law is designed to fulfill the public policy objective of consumer protection, by preventing the public from being misled as to the origin or quality of a product or service. By identifying the commercial source of products and services, trademarks facilitate identification of products and services which meet the expectations of consumers as to quality and other characteristics.
Trademarks may also serve as an incentive for manufacturers, providers or suppliers to consistently provide quality products or services to maintain their business reputation. Furthermore, if a trademark owner does not maintain quality control and adequate supervision in relation to the manufacture and provision of products or services supplied by a licensee, such 'naked licensing' will eventually adversely affect the owner's rights in the trademark. For US law see, ex.Eva's Bridal Ltd. v. Halanick Enterprises, Inc. 639 F.3d 788 (7th Cir. 2011). This proposition has, however, been watered down by the judgment of the House of Lords in the case of Scandecor Development AB v. Scandecor Marketing AB et al. [2001] UKHL 21; wherein it has been held that the mere fact that a bare license (equivalent of the United States concept of a naked license) has been granted did not automatically mean that a trademark was liable to mislead.
By the same token, trademark holders must be cautious in the sale of their mark for similar reasons as apply to licensing. When assigning an interest in a trademark, if the associated product or service is not transferred with it, then this may be an 'assignment-in-gross' and could lead to a loss of rights in the trademark. It is still possible to make significant changes to the underlying goods or services during a sale without jeopardizing the trademark, but companies will often contract with the sellers to help transition the mark and goods or services to the new owners to ensure continuity of the trademark.
Comparison with patents, designs and copyright[edit]
While trademark law seeks to protect indications of the commercial source of products or services, patent law generally seeks to protect new and useful inventions, and registered designs law generally seeks to protect the look or appearance of a manufactured article. Trademarks, patents and designs collectively form a subset of intellectual property known as industrial property because they are often created and used in an industrial or commercial context.
Reimage repair license key. By comparison, copyright law generally seeks to protect original literary, artistic and other creative works. Continued active use and re-registration can make a trademark perpetual, whereas copyright usually lasts for the duration of the author's lifespan plus 70 years for works by individuals, and some limited time after creation for works by bodies corporate.[34] This can lead to confusion in cases where a work passes into the public domain but the character in question remains a registered trademark.
Although intellectual property laws such as these are theoretically distinct, more than one type may afford protection to the same article. For example, the particular design of a bottle may qualify for copyright protection as a non-utilitarian [sculpture], or for trademark protection based on its shape, or the 'trade dress' appearance of the bottle as a whole may be protectable. Titles and character names from books or movies may also be protectable as trademarks while the works from which they are drawn may qualify for copyright protection as a whole. Trademark protection does not apply to utilitarian features of a product such as the plastic interlocking studs on Lego bricks.[35]
Drawing these distinctions is necessary, but often challenging for the courts and lawyers, especially in jurisdictions where patents and copyrights pass into the public domain, depending on the jurisdiction. Unlike patents and copyrights, which in theory are granted for one-off fixed terms, trademarks remain valid as long as the owner actively uses and defends them and maintains their registrations with the competent authorities. This often involves payment of a periodic renewal fee.
As a trademark must be used to maintain rights in relation to that mark, a trademark can be 'abandoned' or its registration can be cancelled or revoked if the mark is not continuously used. By comparison, patents and copyrights cannot be 'abandoned' and a patent holder or copyright owner can generally enforce their rights without taking any particular action to maintain the patent or copyright. Additionally, patent holders and copyright owners may not necessarily need to actively police their rights. However, a failure to bring a timely infringement suit or action against a known infringer may give the defendant a defense of implied consent or estoppel when suit is finally brought.
Like patents and copyrights, trademarks can be bought, sold, and transferred from one company or another. Unlike patents and copyrights, trademarks may not remain intact through this process. Where trademarks have been acquired for the purpose of marketing generic (non-distinctive) products, courts have refused to enforce them.
In 1923, the author Edgar Rice Burroughs registered his fictitious character Tarzan as a trademark; even after the copyright to the Tarzan story expired, his company used ownership of the trademarks relating to the character (which unlike copyrights, do not have a limited length) to control the production of media using its imagery and license the character for use in other works (such as adaptations). This practice is a precursor to the modern concept of a media franchise.[36]
Dilution[edit]
A trademark is diluted when the use of similar or identical trademarks in other non-competing markets means that the trademark in and of itself will lose its capacity to signify a single source. In other words, unlike ordinary trademark law, dilution protection extends to trademark uses that do not confuse consumers regarding who has made a product. Instead, dilution protection law aims to protect sufficiently strong trademarks from losing their singular association in the public mind with a particular product, perhaps imagined if the trademark were to be encountered independently of any product (e.g., just the word Pepsi spoken, or on a billboard).Under trademark law, dilution occurs either when unauthorized use of a mark 'blurs' the 'distinctive nature of the mark' or 'tarnishes it.' Likelihood of confusion is not required. 15 U.S.C §§ 1127, 1125(c).
Sale, transfer and licensing[edit]
In various jurisdictions a trademark may be sold with or without the underlying goodwill which subsists in the business associated with the mark. However, this is not the case in the United States, where the courts have held that this would 'be a fraud upon the public'. In the U.S., trademark registration can therefore only be sold and assigned if accompanied by the sale of an underlying asset. Examples of assets whose sale would ordinarily support the assignment of a mark include the sale of the machinery used to produce the goods that bear the mark, or the sale of the corporation (or subsidiary) that produces the trademarked goods.
Licensing[edit]
Licensing means the trademark owner (the licensor) grants a permit to a third party (the licensee) in order to commercially use the trademark legally. It is a contract between the two, containing the scope of content and policy. The essential provisions to a trademark license identify the trademark owner and the licensee, in addition to the policy and the goods or services agreed to be licensed.
Most jurisdictions provide for the use of trademarks to be licensed to third parties. The licensor must monitor the quality of the goods being produced by the licensee to avoid the risk of trademark being deemed abandoned by the courts. A trademark license should therefore include appropriate provisions dealing with quality control, whereby the licensee provides warranties as to quality and the licensor has rights to inspection and monitoring.
Domain names[edit]
The advent of the domain name system has led to attempts by trademark holders to enforce their rights over domain names that are similar or identical to their existing trademarks, particularly by seeking control over the domain names at issue. As with dilution protection, enforcing trademark rights over domain name owners involves protecting a trademark outside the obvious context of its consumer market, because domain names are global and not limited by goods or service.
This conflict is easily resolved when the domain name owner actually uses the domain to compete with the trademark owner. Cybersquatting, however, does not involve competition. Instead, an unlicensed user registers a domain name identical to a trademark, and offers to sell the domain to the trademark owner. Typosquattersâthose registering common misspellings of trademarks as domain namesâhave also been targeted successfully in trademark infringement suits. 'Gripe sites', on the other hand, tend to be protected as free speech, and are therefore more difficult to attack as trademark infringement.
This clash of the new technology with preexisting trademark rights resulted in several high-profile decisions as the courts of many countries tried to coherently address the issue (and not always successfully) within the framework of existing trademark law. As the website itself was not the product being purchased, there was no actual consumer confusion, and so initial interest confusion was a concept applied instead. Initial interest confusion refers to customer confusion that creates an initial interest in a competitor's 'product' (in the online context, another party's website). Even though initial interest confusion is dispelled by the time any actual sales occur, it allows a trademark infringer to capitalize on the goodwill associated with the original mark.
Several cases have wrestled with the concept of initial interest confusion. In Brookfield Communications, Inc. v. West Coast Entertainment Corp. the court found initial interest confusion could occur when a competitor's trademarked terms were used in the HTML metatags of a website, resulting in that site appearing in the search results when a user searches on the trademarked term. In Playboy v. Netscape, the court found initial interest confusion when users typed in Playboy's trademarks into a search engine, resulting in the display of search results alongside unlabeled banner ads, triggered by keywords that included Playboy's marks, that would take users to Playboy's competitors. Though users might ultimately realize upon clicking on the banner ads that they were not Playboy-affiliated, the court found that the competitor advertisers could have gained customers by appropriating Playboy's goodwill since users may be perfectly happy to browse the competitor's site instead of returning to the search results to find the Playboy sites.
In Lamparello v. Falwell, however, the court clarified that a finding of initial interest confusion is contingent on financial profit from said confusion, such that, if a domain name confusingly similar to a registered trademark is used for a non-trademark related website, the site owner will not be found to have infringed where they do not seek to capitalize on the mark's goodwill for their own commercial enterprises.
In addition, courts have upheld the rights of trademark owners with regard to commercial use of domain names, even in cases where goods sold there legitimately bear the mark. In the landmark decision Creative Gifts, Inc. v. UFO, 235 F.3d 540 (10th Cir. 2000) (New Mexico), defendants had registered the domain name 'Levitron.com' to sell goods bearing the trademark 'Levitron' under an at-will license from the trademark owner. The 10th Circuit affirmed the rights of the trademark owner with regard to said domain name, despite arguments of promissory estoppel.
Most courts particularly frowned on cybersquatting, and found that it was itself a sufficiently commercial use (i.e., 'trafficking' in trademarks) to reach into the area of trademark infringement. Most jurisdictions have since amended their trademark laws to address domain names specifically, and to provide explicit remedies against cybersquatters.
In the US, the legal situation was clarified by the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, an amendment to the Lanham Act, which explicitly prohibited cybersquatting. It defines cybersquatting as '(occurring) when a person other than the trademark holder registers the domain name of a well-known trademark and then attempts to profit from this by either ransoming the domain name back to the trademark holder or using the domain name to divert business from the trademark holder to the domain name holder'.[37] The provision states that '[a] person shall be liable in a civil action by the owner of the mark .. if, without regard to the goods or services of the person, that person (i) had a bad faith intent to profit from the mark ..; and registers, traffics in, or uses domain name [that is confusingly similar to another's mark or dilutes another's mark]'.[38]
This international legal change has also led to the creation of ICANNUniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP) and other dispute policies for specific countries (such as Nominet UK's DRS) which attempt to streamline the process of resolving who should own a domain name (without dealing with other infringement issues such as damages). This is particularly desirable to trademark owners when the domain name registrant may be in another country or even anonymous.
Registrants of domain names also sometimes wish to register the domain names themselves (e.g., 'XYZ.COM') as trademarks for perceived advantages, such as an extra bulwark against their domain being hijacked, and to avail themselves of such remedies as confusion or passing off against other domain holders with confusingly similar or intentionally misspelled domain names.
As with other trademarks, the domain name will not be subject to trademark registration unless the proposed mark is actually used to identify the registrant's goods or services to the public, rather than simply being the location on the Internet where the applicant's web site appears. Amazon.com is a prime example of a protected trademark for a domain name central to the public's identification of the company and its products.
Terms which are not protectable by themselves, such as a generic term or a merely descriptive term that has not acquired secondary meaning, may become registerable when a Top-Level Domain Name (e.g. dot-COM) is appended to it. An example of such a domain name ineligible for trademark or service mark protection as a generic term, but which currently has a registered U.S. service mark, is 'HEARSAY.COM'.[39]
Among trademark practitioners there remains a great deal of debate around trademark protection under ICANN's proposed generic top-level domain name space expansion. World Trademark Review has been reporting on the at times fiery discussion between trademark owners and domainers.[40]
International law[edit]
Although there are systems which facilitate the filing, registration or enforcement of trademark rights in more than one jurisdiction on a regional or global basis, it is currently not possible to file and obtain a single trademark registration which will automatically apply around the world. Like any national law, trademark laws apply only in their applicable country or jurisdiction, a quality which is sometimes known as 'territoriality'.
Territorial application[edit]
The inherent limitations of the territorial application of trademark laws have been mitigated by various intellectual propertytreaties, foremost amongst which is the WTOAgreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. TRIPS establishes legal compatibility between member jurisdictions by requiring the harmonization of applicable laws. For example, Article 15(1) of TRIPS provides a definition for 'sign' which is used as or forms part of the definition of 'trademark' in the trademark legislation of many jurisdictions around the world.
Madrid system[edit]
The major international system for facilitating the registration of trademarks in multiple jurisdictions is commonly known as the 'Madrid system'. Madrid provides a centrally administered system for securing trademark registrations in member jurisdictions by extending the protection of an 'international registration' obtained through the World Intellectual Property Organization. This international registration is in turn based upon an application or registration obtained by a trade mark applicant in its home jurisdiction.
The primary advantage of the Madrid system is that it allows a trademark owner to obtain trademark protection in many jurisdictions by filing one application in one jurisdiction with one set of fees, and make any changes (e.g. changes of name or address) and renew registration across all applicable jurisdictions through a single administrative process. Furthermore, the 'coverage' of the international registration may be extended to additional member jurisdictions at any time.
Trademark Law Treaty[edit]
The Trademark Law Treaty establishes a system pursuant to which member jurisdictions agree to standardize procedural aspects of the trademark registration process. It is not necessarily respective of rules within individual countries.[41]
Community Trademark system[edit]
The EU Trade Mark (EUTM) system (formerly the Community Trademark system) is the trademark system which applies in the European Union, whereby registration of a trademark with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO, formerly Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs)), leads to a registration which is effective throughout the EU as a whole. The EUTM system is therefore said to be unitary in character, in that an EUTM registration applies indivisibly across all European Union member states. However, the CTM system did not replace the national trademark registration systems; the CTM system and the national systems continue to operate in parallel to each other (see also European Union trade mark law).
Persons residing outside the EU must have professional representative to the procedures before EUIPO, while representation is recommended for EU residents.
One of the tasks of an EUTM owner is the monitoring of the later applications whether any of those is similar to his/her earlier trademark. Monitoring is not easy and usually requires professional expertise. To conduct a monitoring there is the so-called Trademark Watching service where it can be checked if someone tries to get registered marks that are similar to the existing marks.
Oppositions should be filed on the standard opposition form in any official language of the European Union, however, the substantive part of the opposition (e.g. the argumentations) can be submitted only in the language of the opposed application, that is one of the working languages of the EUIPO, e.g. English, Spanish, German.
Well-known status[edit]
Well-known trade mark status is commonly granted to famous international trade marks in less-developed legal jurisdictions.
Pursuant to Article 6 bis of the Paris Convention,[42] countries are empowered to grant this status to marks that the relevant authority considers are 'well known'. In addition to the standard grounds for trade mark infringement (same/similar mark applied same/similar goods or services, and a likelihood of confusion), if the mark is deemed well known it is an infringement to apply the same or a similar mark to dissimilar goods/services where there is confusion, including where it takes unfair advantage of the well-known mark or causing detriment to it.[43]
A well-known trademark does not have to be registered in the jurisdiction to bring a trade mark infringement action (equivalent to bringing a passing off claim without having to show goodwill and having a lesser burden of proof).
As per the Trademark Rules 2017, India, an applicant needs to substantiate his claim that his trademark is having the 'well-known' status. He needs to furnish the documents in support of evidence of his rights & claims viz. use of trademark, any application for trademark, and annual sales turnover, and so on.[44][45]
Protection of well-known marks[edit]
Many countries protect unregistered well-known marks in accordance with their international obligations under the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (the TRIPS Agreement). Consequently, not only big companies but also SMEs may have a good chance of establishing enough goodwill with customers so that their marks may be recognized as well-known marks and acquire protection without registration. It is, nevertheless, advisable to seek registration, taking into account that many countries provide for an extended protection of registered well-known marks against dilution (Art. 16.3 TRIPS),[46] i.e., the reputation of the mark being weakened by the unauthorized use of that mark by others.[47]
A number of trademark laws merely implement obligations under Article 16.3[46] of the TRIPS Agreement and protect well-known registered trademarks only under the following conditions: 1- that the goods and services for which the other mark is used or is seeking protection are not identical with or similar to the goods for which the well-known mark acquired its reputation 2- that the use of the other mark would indicate a connection between these goods and the owner of the well-known mark, and 3 â that their interests are likely to be damaged by such use.
References[edit]
External links[edit]
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Trademark&oldid=902971186'
Mark 1 is the first chapter of the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament of the ChristianBible.
The preface of the Gospel of Mark in Codex Gigas (13th century).
Image of page from the 7th century Book of Durrow, from The Gospel of Mark. Trinity College Dublin.
Text[edit]
The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 45 verses.
Some early manuscripts containing this chapter are:
Opening (1:1)[edit]Verse 1[edit]
The opening verse of the Gospel of Mark states right from the start Mark's belief. Robert Miller translates it as 'The goodnews of Jesus the Anointed'[2] on the basis that ÏÏιÏÏοÏ
means 'anointed' and the phrase Ï
ιοÏ
ÏοÏ
θεοÏ
is not present in a few early witnesses. The 'beginning' could refer to the beginning of the book, or the next verse,[3] or the beginning of the story of Jesus, as Mark is only beginning to tell you about Jesus' life, not writing his entire biography.[4]
By saying he is the anointed, Mark is declaring Jesus the Messiah, the successor to King David. Mark always uses 'Christ' which is derived from the Greek translation, he never uses 'Messias' (Strong's G3323 - ÎεÏÏίαÏ) which is derived from the Greek transliteration of the Aramaic word for 'Messiah'. Son of God can be seen as synonymous with a political messiah, in this case the King of the Jews, but can also be seen as expressing divinity,[5] as in the phrase 'God the Son'. Only the demonic opponents of Jesus call him this in Mark until the centurion in Mark 15:39. The 'good news' could refer to the news about Jesus or from Jesus or Jesus as the good news or a combination of them all.[6]
Henry Barclay Swete's Introduction to the Old Testament in Greek, pages 456â457 states:[7]
Unique among all early manuscripts, the original version this verse in the Codex Sinaiticus did not include the phrase 'the Son of God', but later was added by a corrector ('S1').[8]
Announcement of the prophets[edit]Image De Martin PecheurVerses 2â3[edit]
In the Greek texts of Mark edited by Westcott and Hort, Samuel Prideaux Tregelles and the Society of Biblical Literature, the prophecies quoted are described as being written 'εν ÏÏ Î·Ïαια ÏÏ ÏÏοÏηÏη' (en tÅ Äsaia tÅ prophÄtÄ, 'in the prophet Isaiah'), as they are in manuscriptsB, D, L, Î and ×,[11] whereas the Textus Receptus reads 'εν ÏÎ¿Î¹Ï ÏÏοÏηÏαιÏ' (en tois ÏÏοÏá¿Ïαι, 'in the prophets') in line with many other ancient manuscripts and patristic writings.[11][12]
Some think this might indicate that Mark did not use a complete Jewish Bible but instead used a general collection of quotations from them.[13] Protestant theologian Heinrich Meyer suggests that the reference to Isaiah is authentic but it was a 'mistake of memory'.[11] The quote appears to be a composite from the books of Exodus (23:20), Malachi (3:1) and Isaiah (40:3),[14] linking the gospel of Jesus with a fulfillment of the 'Old Testament'. Mark assumes they refer to John the Baptist or applies them to him.
The passage from Malachi describes one who will prepare the way of God for God. Mark has changed the statement of Malachi, which refers to Elijah returning to prepare God's way, to one in which John is seen as Elijah, because the spirit of Elijah rested on him and 'my' way has been changed to 'your' way, i.e. Jesus' way. Mark thus might be equating Jesus with God.[15]
In more detail, it appears Mark has taken part of Exodus 23:20 of the Septuagint: ιδοÏ
ÎµÎ³Ï Î±ÏοÏÏÎµÎ»Î»Ï Ïον αγγελον μοÏ
ÏÏο ÏÏοÏÏÏοÏ
ÏοÏ
(Brenton Ex 23:20: 'behold, I send my angel before thy face') and combined it with part of Malachi 3:1 of the Septuagint: εÏιβλεÏεÏαι οδον (Brenton Mal 3:1: 'survey the way') to create Mark 1:2 in the Westcott-Hort Greek NT: ιδοÏ
αÏοÏÏÎµÎ»Î»Ï Ïον αγγελον μοÏ
ÏÏο ÏÏοÏÏÏοÏ
ÏοÏ
Î¿Ï ÎºÎ±ÏαÏκεÏ
αÏει Ïην οδον ÏοÏ
. The significant differences are εÏιβλεÏεÏαι ('survey' -Brenton) is replaced with καÏαÏκεÏ
αÏει ('prepare' -NRSV) and a final ÏοÏ
('your' -NRSV) has been added: 'See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,[16] who will prepare your way' (Mark 1:2 in the NRSV). The following quote of Isaiah 40:3 is specifically from the Septuagint,[17] compare Brenton Isa 40:3: 'The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight the paths of our God.' to the Masoretic Text40:3: 'Hark! one calleth: 'Clear ye in the wilderness the way of the LORD, make plain in the desert a highway for our God.' or the NRSV 40:3: 'A voice cries out: âIn the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.' or the new JPS Tanakh (1985) 40:3: 'A voice rings out: Clear in the desert A road for the Lord! Level in the wilderness A highway for our God!'
All four gospels use the quote from Septuagint Isaiah: it is in Luke in Luke 3:4-6, Matthew in Matthew 3:3, and John in John 1:23. This section of Isaiah is about the return journey home from the Babylonian captivity and was a passage Jews often used as a way of expressing the help of God. Isaiah probably uses this passage symbolically to describe moral cleansing and renewal.[13] Thus John is linked to Isaiah as well and once again Mark equates the lord of this passage, Yahweh, with Jesus.[18]
John the Baptist[edit]
Sand Mountains in the Negev
John the Baptist in the Wilderness by Geertgen tot Sint Jans
Mark describes John's activities, preaching repentance and forgiveness of sins and baptising in the Jordan river. He says he wore camel hair, a leather belt, and survived on locusts and wild honey. His clothes resemble Elijah's as described in 2 Kings 1:8. There is also the prophecy of true prophet's clothing in the Book of Zechariah13:4. His diet may have been his attempt at purity.[13] There has been much speculation that John was an Essene, perhaps also Jesus, but there is no hard evidence either way. According to Luke, Jesus and John were relatives (Luke 1:36) and John is described as being a Nazarite from birth (Luke 1:15). All portraits of him paint him as certainly an ascetic, but also as a popular and respected preacher.
This portrait of John is somewhat the same but somewhat different from the one Josephus gives us. Josephus states that John baptized, but not for the forgiveness of sins and that he was a great leader of the people, making no mention of Jesus regarding John. This difference might show how Mark views John, as a representative of Elijah and merely the herald of who Mark deems the more important, Jesus.[13] According to the Qhypothesis John baptising was also found at the beginning of that book as well.[19]John is revered in Mandaeism.
Many people come to be baptised by John. He tells them 'After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit'. Untying someone's sandals was a task commonly done by someone's slave.[13] What baptising with the Holy Spirit refers to, as Jesus never baptises in Mark, is uncertain if one only considers Mark. John 4:1-3 has Jesus' disciples (but not Jesus) baptising at the same time as John the Baptist. (See also Paraclete, Acts 1:5, 1:8, 2:4, 2:38). Matthew 3:11 and Luke 3:16 specify baptism with holy spirit and fire.
Verse 7[edit]
Verse 8[edit]
Some see John's statement patterned on the Book of Exodus, in Exodus 23:20.[13] Other books used this pattern to describe other prophets, such as Hosea in Hosea 2:14 and 12:9.[2]
The Jesus Seminar concluded that this was one of the authentic ('red') acts of Jesus, recorded in Mark 1:1-8, Matt 3:1-12, Luke 3:1-20, Gospel of the Ebionites 1, and which it calls 'A voice in the wilderness'.
Jesus' baptism and temptation[edit]
Appearance of Christ to the People, by Alexander Ivanov, 1837-57
Jesus is one of the many who come to be baptised, in his case from Nazareth in Galilee. Since John, according to Mark, baptised repentance for the forgiveness of sins (Mark 1:4) some have argued Jesus also is coming to be forgiven for his sins; but Mark notes that John says that he is unworthy (Mark 1:7-8). Mark also has John's function as preparing things for Jesus, and some argue this baptism is meant to forward the fulfillment of Jesus' plan. John 1:31 has John say his baptism was his method of revealing Jesus to Israel. Perhaps Jesus is doing this to embrace the doctrine of baptism and repentance of sins and his oneness with those who embrace it.[22] The Epistle to the Hebrews, in Hebrews 4:15, says Jesus was 'just as we are â yet was without sin' and 1 John 3:4 states: '..sin is lawlessness.'
Mark introduces Jesus without a history or a description, suggesting the intended reader already has heard of him. Mark, like all the Gospels, gives no physical description of Jesus, unlike the short previous description of John. Mark's readers are assumed already to know about the two of them.[2]
John baptizes him and Jesus then sees a theophany. He sees 'heaven being torn open' (Greek: ÏÏιζομÎνοÏ
Ï, schizomenous, rent open)[23] 'and the spirit descending on him like a dove',[24] and hears a voice telling him that he is God's son whom God loves, and with whom God is well pleased. The vision could be related to a Psalm2:7, as well as Isaiah 42:1.[25] The 'opening of the heavens' [26] is often seen as the union and beginning of communication between God and the world.[citation needed] Whether anyone else besides Jesus saw this has been often debated: Luke 3:22 says the Spirit descended in 'bodily' form; John 1:32-34 says John said he saw the Spirit descend onto Jesus. Some have speculated that this event may have been a story that has its origins in the Early Christian practice of baptism, although Franciscan theologian Robert J. Karris [27] argues that this is unlikely.[13]
Some have argued that since Mark begins his story here, at the baptism, that this could be seen as a form of adoption, as it is God's action which changed Jesus' life, although Mark probably is confirming their preexistent relationship[13] Jesus is never declared as God's adopted son anywhere in the book, but Mark does not exactly state how or when Jesus became God's son. Both Matthew and Luke use their infancy narratives to show that Jesus was God's son from the moment of conception, and John 1:1 has him as the word of God from the moment of creation.[25]
The voice from heaven calls Jesus 'beloved'. Some see a relationship between this description and that of Isaac in Genesis22, where Abraham had shown his devotion to God by being willing to sacrifice his son, so God shows his love for humanity by actually sacrificing his son, see also Substitutionary atonement. There is also the possible link with this and the beloved servant of God in Isaiah 42:1-7, 49:1-6, 50:4-11, and 52:13-53:12.[28]
The spirit then 'at once', kai euthys, sends him out into the desert to be tempted by Satan for forty days. Forty is a common numerological device in the Bible, such as the forty days of the flood in Genesis 7 and the forty years of the Israelites wandering in the desert in Exodus. Elijah also spent forty days and nights travelling to Mount Horeb in 1 Kings 19:8. Unlike Matthew 4:1-11 and Luke 4:1-13 the number of temptations or what they were are not described. Mark does say that Angels came to minister to him. Karris argues the angels and the wilderness are related to Psalm 91:11-13.[13]
John is put into prison, presumably by Herod Antipas. Mark uses the term paradothÄnai to describe John being 'turned over', which Mark also uses to describe Jesus being arrested during his Passion. Mark has already highlighted two themes, Jesus' power from and favor of God, contrasted with his confrontation with Satan and John being arrested, showing his power and mission have already encountered the most extreme challenges both from the authorities of this world and supernatural powers.
The Jesus Seminar concluded that parts of these accounts were authentic ('red') acts of Jesus, specifically: 'John baptizes Jesus': Mark 1:9-11, Matthew 3:13-17, Luke 3:21-22, Gospel of the Ebionites 4; and 'Jesus proclaims the gospel': Mark 1:14-15.
Calling of the four disciples[edit]
Landscape in northern Israel
Fisherman in the Sea of Galilee, 1890-1900
Petrusaltar: Jesus stutzt Petrus auf dem Wasser, Luis Borrassá, c.1400
Jesus then goes into Galilee, preaching 'The kingdom of God is near (Ängiken). Repent and believe the gospel (euangelion)!' The kingdom of God can be seen as a physical or spiritual place. It could also be translated as 'God's imperial rule', indicating the power of God over all things.[29] The gospel is seen as not just God's message but his actions.[13] Jesus here links the coming of God with the term Ängiken (Strong's G1448), which some see as meaning 'near' as in 'upcoming in the future' but others argue it means 'near' as in Jesus himself is near and the coming of God has arrived. These are then linked with repentance, a change of heart, and then belief. Belief and repentance are thus what Jesus says God desires.[30] See also Justification (theology).
Jesus goes to the Sea of Galilee and finds Simon (whom he will name Rock (Peter) in 3:16) and his brother Andrew. They are fishing, a large business then in Galilee.[31] He speaks the famous phrase 'Come, follow me,..and I will make you fishers of men.' Some have argued their status as fishermen is metaphorical, based perhaps on Jeremiah 16:16, but Karris argues that their occupations as fishermen was historical and related by Mark to show the costliness of being a disciple, as they had to leave a presumably thriving business.[31] Andrew was a disciple of John the Baptist according to John. He only appears three times in Mark, here, and in Mark 3:18 and Mark 13:3. They follow him and then soon come upon James and John (whom he will name the Sons of Thunder in 3:17), who also quickly join the group, 'they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men.' Peter, James, and John will play a prominent part in several incidents in the Gospel. Mark does not relate that Jesus convinced them to follow him in any way. Mark simply has them follow him without question. Kilgallen argues that historically this calling was not so sudden, with perhaps a prior meeting, but Mark has shortened it for extra effect to emphasize total devotion to Jesus.[32] John relates Jesus convincing Nathanael to join the group.
Mark says they had nets in Mark 1:16 and they and their father, Zebedee, employed other men in Mark 1:20. Karris argues this shows they had money and a high probability of being educated, with a knowledge of the Jewish Bible. Others point to Acts 4:13 to show that they were unschooled, but Karris argues against reading this too literally.[31]
John 1:35-51 has Andrew and someone else who are with John the Baptist follow Jesus after John calls him the Lamb of God. They then bring Simon to Jesus, who gives him the Aramaic name Cephas, meaning Rock (Peter). Philip and Nathanael are then called secondly, not James and John. The calling of disciples is also found in Luke 5:1-11 and Matthew 4:18â22.
Verse 16[edit]
Bauckham makes interesting observations pertaining to the prominence of Simon Peter's name in the Gospel of Mark:[34]
Jesus in Capernaum and the tour of Galilee[edit]
A 1923 map showing Galilee circa 50 AD. Capernaum is in the upper right while Nazareth is towards the centre.
Jesus and the four go to Capernaum, which Mark has as Jesus's center of activity and Jesus teaches in the synagogue on the sabbath. Eventually, in 9:5, at the Transfiguration of Jesus, Mark uses the technical term ῥαββί, rhabbi, 'rabbi', meaning a Jewish teacher of Mosaic Law. See also Rabboni. Gathering disciples (students) and teaching are thus the first part of what Jesus does to proclaim the kingdom of God. Mark does not relate what Jesus taught, which could mean he left it out because he did not deem it important enough for his book or because he did not know what Jesus taught there. Some archaeologists believe a synagogue in Capernaum that has been excavated lies on top of the synagogue that existed at this time that would have been the one Jesus would have gone to.[36] Anyone who showed a sufficient knowledge of the scriptures could preach in the synagogue.[31] Mark says the people thought Jesus taught with 'authority', which the scribes did not. The scribes would answer questions in a traditional, official manner, see also Pharisaic Principles and Values. Jesus in Mark operates on no authority but his own judgement.[37] According to John 2 Jesus attended the Marriage at Cana before going to Capernaum.
He then performs an exorcism on a demon possessed man. Curing people, especially possessed people, will be another major method Jesus uses in his mission in Mark.[38] The demon recognizes Jesus as 'the Holy one of God', the first time Jesus' supernatural opponents are shown to know his true identity. Jesus simply says 'Be quiet, and come out of him!', healing the man with words alone. The people are amazed. This follows a path Mark often uses, that of a description of the affliction, Jesus' cure of the affliction, and then a demonstration of the cure to others.[39] The power of Jesus' word over the demon might be Mark's way of trying to show to his audience, perhaps under the threat of persecution, that Jesus' message will overcome evil.[38] By showing Jesus' teaching first before his exorcism Mark might be placing emphasis on Jesus' teachings as more important that any miracle he could perform.
There were several people who were claimed to have the ability to perform exorcisms in the ancient world and many ancient opponents of Christianity dismissed Jesus as just another magician.[40] Most descriptions of exorcisms at the time tended to involve the exorcist tricking the spirit or demon into leaving the victim by convincing them the exorcist had more power than the being, not a method Jesus employs. Parallels in Hellenistic cultural stories of exorcisms differ in that they usually involve an associated disease, which is not the case here. John P. Meier sees a clear distinction between these incidents and descriptions of magicians at the time.[41]
Image De Mark Inc
Alleged ruins of house of St. Peter under the Catholic Church in Kapernaum, Israel
They go to Peter and Andrew's house and Jesus cures Peter's sick mother-in-law. The house was presumably near the synagogue. She then gets up and helps Jesus and his companions. Attending to her guests would have been her social duty in the Jewish culture.[39] Mark uses the term Ägeiren, 'to lift up', to describe Jesus' cure of her, followed by diÄkonei, 'she served', which some have seen as a theological message about Jesus' power requiring service. Karris argues for this event's historicity, perhaps based on an eyewitness.[31] A story about Peter's mother-in-law might have survived due to the popularity of Peter among early Christians.[42]
Peter is clearly listed here as having a wife, as Jesus healed his mother-in-law. Paul says that other Apostles, Cephas (Peter), and Jesus' brothers have wives, but not him, in 1 Corinthians 9:5. See also Clerical celibacy.
It is now night. Mark says 'That evening after sunset â¦,' one of his examples of redundancy as evening and after sunset are really the same thing repeated. Neither Luke and Matthew retain this redundancy. By this time word has spread and the people have brought the sick and possessed for Jesus to heal, which he does. Mark says the 'whole city' came to see Jesus, which is probably an exaggeration. Both Luke and Matthew just state there were many people. The demons leaving the possessed people are not allowed to tell people who Jesus is, a common theme of Mark called the Messianic Secret. Jesus is able to cure every affliction of the people who come to see him.
He then leaves town very early in the morning for solitary prayer. Mark says ÏÏÏι εννÏ
Ïον λιαν (prÅi ennycha lian, 'very early, it being yet night' [43], a complicated description of time employing three adverbs.[44] His disciples find him and tell him that everyone is looking for him. He says 'Let us go somewhere else', to the nearby villages and he will preach to them there also. He says 'That is why I have come', using the word εξηλθον (exÄlthon)[45], with its ex- prefix focusing on the place from which he has come, which some see as meaning a statement about Jesus' divine mandate or possibly a rejection of Capernaum: there is no general agreement on these points.[44] He then travels over all of Galilee, preaching and healing.
He cures a leper who comes to him asking for a cure and tells him to show the priests and offer the cleaning sacrifices Moses had commanded (Leviticus 13-14), but not to tell people that Jesus had done it. Jesus here seems to stress the importance of the Mosaic law, see also Expounding of the Law. This episode is also recorded in the Egerton Gospel 2:1-4. People have seen Jesus telling the man to be quiet about what had happened as related to the Messianic Secret, although it could be Jesus just telling the man to immediately go to the priests. Leprosy could mean many skin diseases, such as favus or psoriasis.[44] Mark says Jesus had 'compassion' for the man, although a few manuscripts say he was angry, and some have argued that angry was the original word intentionally changed to make Jesus look less angry, as he is described as giving a 'stern', embrimÄsamenos, warning to the man in verse 43. Mark however also shows Jesus' anger in many other places, such as Mark 3:5 and the incident at the Temple, see also Expounding of the Law#Anger. Bruce Metzger's Textual Commentary on the Greek NT postulates a possible 'confusion between similar words in Aramaic (compare Syriac ethraham, 'he had pity,' with ethra'em, 'he was enraged').' See also Aramaic primacy. The man then seems to disobey and spreads the news, increasing Jesus' popularity even more. Whether or not he ever made it to the priests Mark does not say. This is the first of many times in Mark that Jesus unsuccessfully tries to conceal his workings by telling people to keep what he has done a secret. Karris argues that one could also read it as Jesus 'spreading the news', not the man.[44]
Image De MarketerVerse 45[edit]
The chapter ends with Jesus returning to the 'deserted' or 'lonely' places, Greek: ÎµÏ ÎµÏÎ·Î¼Î¿Î¹Ï ÏοÏοιÏ, ep eremois topois, which have been mentioned throughout the chapter (Mark 1:3-4, 12-13, 35, 45), but the people follow him there too.
Comparison with other canonical gospels[edit]
Matthew records these events in Matthew 3-4 without an explicit mention of the exorcism and the curing of Peter's mother-in-law. The curing of the leper then appears in Matthew 8:1-4 after the Sermon on the Mount, along with the healing of Peter's mother-in-law in Matthew 8:14-17.
Luke largely has the same order as Mark in Luke 3-5:16 except that Jesus calls his disciples after meeting Peter and curing his mother-in-law. Luke also has Jesus going to Nazareth after his temptation and arguing with the people there. Matthew says he left Nazareth and went to Galilee, but does not relate what happened there.
John records Jesus' baptism and calling of disciples in John 1. John also has Jesus' disciples baptising at the same time as John the Baptist and so has more occur before John's arrest than the Synoptics do.
References[edit]
Sources[edit]
External links[edit]
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mark_1&oldid=904899223'
Comments are closed.
|
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |