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【Main Issues and Holdings】
[1] Where the owner of a good bearing a registered trademark of a trademark right holder performs an act of “reform” (such as alteration, customizing, or upcycling) by transforming or processing that good into another form for the purpose of personal use, whether the act of displaying a trademark on reformed goods corresponds to “use of a trademark” under the Trademark Act and thus constitutes infringement of trademark rights (negative in principle)
Whether this is likewise applicable in a case where a person who carries out reforming activities as a business performs such modifications upon the owner’s request for personal use and returns the reformed good to the owner (affirmative)
[2] An exceptional case where an act of a person who carries out reforming activities as a business of displaying a trademark during the reform process corresponds to “use of a trademark” under the Trademark Act and thus constitutes infringement of trademark rights, and the standard for judgment thereon and the allocation of the burden of proof (held: trademark right holder)
In addition, whether a person carrying out reforming activities as a business bears joint legal liability for such infringement if they are involved in the act by providing reforming services, despite knowing or being able to know that the owner would commit an act of infringing on trademark (affirmative)
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