「正露丸」是一般名稱, 大幸薬品上訴失敗

A few weeks ago the Yomiuri News on-line reported the following:

「正露丸」は一般名称…大幸薬品の上告退ける

2014年10月14日 21時20分

　ラッパのマークで知られる胃腸薬「セイロガン糖衣Ａ」を製造・販売する大幸薬品（大阪府吹田市）が、商品名やパッケージが似た「正露丸糖衣Ｓ」の販売で損失を受けたとして販売元のキョクトウ（富山市）にパッケージの使用差し止めなどを求めた訴訟の上告審で、最高裁第１小法廷（金築誠志(かねつきせいし)裁判長）は９日の決定で大幸薬品の上告を退けた。

　同社の敗訴が確定した。

　両製品はパッケージに「糖衣」などの文字が入っている点が共通しているが、１、２審判決は、「正露丸」が一般名称として多数の業者に使われていることや、キョクトウの製品にはラッパのマークがないことなどを踏まえ、大幸薬品の請求を退けていた。

(試譯文)

A decision was made on the 9^th (October) regarding the final appeal hearing on a law suit: the First Petty Bench (chief judge Seishi Kanatsuki) turned down an appeal from the Daiko Medicine (Suita-shi, Osaka) which produced and sold a medicine for the digestive system, the "Seirogen Sugarcoating A", that was known for having a trumpet mark. Daiko Medicine claimed that it had suffered loss due to the sale of "Seirogan Sugarcoating S", which was using similar brand name and package, and asked for the prohibition of its selling agency Kyokutou (Toyama-shi) to use the package etc.

A lost case for Daiko Medicine was confirmed.

A point in common was in the package, with the characters of "sugarcoating" etc. But in the first and second trial, the judgment was that the word "Seirogan" was a common name used by a lot of traders. Also, based on the fact that there was no trumpet mark etc. in Kyokutou’s product, the appeal from Daiko medicine was rejected.

It is an interesting legal case. My understanding is that Daiko Medicine’s "Seirogen Sugarcoating A", known for having a trumpet mark, has been popular in Hong Kong for decades.