Journal of Intellectual Property (J Intellect Property; JIP)

KCI Indexed
OPEN ACCESS, PEER REVIEWED

pISSN 1975-5945
eISSN 2733-8487
Research Article

Geometric Structuring of the Similarity Assessment Space in Trademark Law: Focusing on the Legal Validity Assessment of AI Models

Independent Researcher (B.S. in Electronics and Communications Engineering, Kwangwoon University, Republic of Korea)

Correspondence to Dongho Shin (dhooya99@daum.net)

Volume 21, Number 3, Pages 247-276, September 2026.
Journal of Intellectual Property 2026;21(3):247-276. https://doi.org/10.34122/jip.2026.21.3.247
Received on July 02, 2026, Revised on August 18, 2026, Accepted on September 18, 2026, Published on September 30, 2026.
Copyright © 2026 Korea Institute of Intellectual Property.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided that the article is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.

Abstract

This study proposes a methodology to systematize the logical connections among determination factors through the mathematical structuring of similarity assessments in trademark law. By defining marks and designated goods as manifold structures and introducing a metric tensor, this study formalizes existing legal principles governing trademark similarity assessment, such as the interactions among specific elements (appearance, pronunciation, and meaning) and cognitive asymmetry, into a problem of geometric distance measurement. As a theoretical application, this study presents a methodology that explores the theoretical lower bound of the threshold distinguishing similar from dissimilar marks by applying the similarity judgment jurisprudence of the Supreme Court of Korea as a mathematical constraints. In addition, using the tensor transformation law mediated by the Jacobian matrix, a methodology is proposed to verify the validity of distance-calculating metrics independently formed by the hidden layers of black-box artificial intelligence (AI) models by projecting them into a legal-doctrinal reference space. This study is academically significant because it provides a novel analytical framework by substituting the existing legal reasoning for trademark similarity assessment with a mathematical structure. The study has practical significance as it establishes a foundation for diagnosing and verifying whether the outputs generated by black-box AI models or practical legal judgments possess case-specific validity based on evidence and facts.
Keywords

trademark law, similarity assessment, differential geometry, similarity threshold, AI validity assessment, black-box AI models

Notes

Conflicts of Interest

No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

Funding

The author received manuscript fees for this article from Korea Institute of Intellectual Property.

Section