Any person or entity whose rights are guaranteed by the Constitution or whose interests are protected under the law may seek redress pursuant to the law. The term “other group” referred to in the first part of Article 37, Paragraph 1, Subparagraph 11, of the Revised Trademark Law (Article 37, Subparagraph 11, of the Current Trademark Law) promulgated on May 25, 1989, means a group, i.e., not a natural person or a legal person, which has no legal capacity under the law. The purpose of the abovementioned statute is to protect the moral rights and property interests of the group within certain limits. Being the primary subjects of rights and obligations, natural persons and legal persons are naturally protected by the Constitution. However, to adhere to the constitutional protection provided for moral rights and property interests, a group which is organized and operated independently under a specific name, which engages in commercial acts or other affairs in the name of the group for a long period of time with considerable publicity, is well-known to the general public and has certain interests to be protected, falls within the scope of protection under the Trademark Law regardless of whether it promotes public welfare and is therefore protected by the Constitution. The abovementioned Trademark Law provides that a trademark application shall be rejected if the proposed trademark comprises the name of another group without permission. The purpose of the abovementioned statute is to protect the name of the group against trademark infringement and to protect consumers from the likelihood of confusion. It is therefore consistent with the provisions set forth in Article 22 of the Constitution.

　　　 The protection provided to the fundamental rights of the people is the primary responsibility of a modern rule-of-law nation. Any person or entity whose rights are guaranteed by the Constitution or whose interests are protected under the law may seek redress pursuant to the law. The term “other group” referred to in the first part of Article 37, Paragraph 1, Subparagraph 11, of the Revised Trademark Law (Article 37, Subparagraph 11, of the Current Trademark Law) promulgated on May 25, 1989, means a group, i.e., not a natural person or a legal person, which has no legal capacity under the law. The purpose of the abovementioned statute is to protect the moral rights and property interests of the group within certain limits. Being the primary subjects of rights and obligations, natural persons and legal persons are naturally protected by the Constitution. However, to adhere to the constitutional protection provided for moral rights and property interests, a group which has no legal capacity may still seek redress under the Trademark Law as “other group” if it meets the following requirements: A group must be organized by multiple persons for a particular purpose under a specific name, have firms or places of business with independently controlled assets and managers or representatives to carry out legal acts in the name of the group. Because such a group has the substance and organization identical to that of a legal person and is an autonomous entity existing independently from its constituents, it therefore falls into the category of “other group” referred to in the Trademark Law. A group which is organized and operated independently under a specific name, which engages in commercial acts or other affairs in the name of the group for a long period of time with considerable publicity, is well-known to the general public and has certain interests to be protected, falls within the scope of protection under the Trademark Law regardless of whether it promotes public welfare and is therefore protected by the Constitution. The first part of Article 37, Paragraph 1, Subparagraph 11, of the Revised Trademark Law (Article 37, Subparagraph 11, of the Current Trademark Law) provides that a trademark application shall be rejected if the proposed trademark comprises the name of another group without permission. The purpose of the abovementioned statute is to protect the name of the group against trademark infringement and to protect consumers from the likelihood of confusion. It is therefore consistent with the provisions set forth in Article 22 of the Constitution. In addition, Article 38, Paragraph 2, of the Trademark Law provides that a trademark applicant will not acquire any exclusive trademark rights without obtaining the approval of his or her trademark application. However, once his or her trademark application is approved, the rightful trademark owner may assign his or her trademark rights to others. These exclusive trademark rights accorded by the Trademark Law are property with a considerable value and therefore fall within the category of property rights protected by the Constitution. The rightful owner of a registered trademark may seek redress pursuant to the law based on the reason that his or her constitutionally protected property rights have been infringed. As for the preparatory office of a corporation, whether it falls within the category of “other group” referred to in Article 37, Paragraph 1, Subparagraph 11, of the Revised Trademark Law (Article 37, Subparagraph 11, of the Current Trademark Law) will depend upon the totality of the circumstances in accordance with the preceding opinion.