应对商标抢注:如何“未雨绸缪”

Trademark registration:is fortune created by law?

市场经济中,商标无疑是和财富紧密联系在一起的,许多商标抢注案件之所以引致商标持有者和抢注者之间最终公堂相见,正是因为其中蕴含着的巨大商业利益。在法律无法对商标抢注进行完善规制的情况下,我们该如何看待商标抢注行为?商标意识不仅仅是商标保护意识,还应该包括对商标中潜在商业价值的敏锐感觉。从这个意义上来讲,在不违法、不违背商业道德情况下,抢注者经由法律程序把那些人们熟视无睹、没有认识到其潜在价值的标识、形象、事物、符号注册为商标,甚至把那些正在使用但还未进行注册的商号、商业标志注册为商标,对社会整体来讲未必是一件坏事情,它至少还有一个积极作用:增强人们的商标意识,促使人们珍惜和发现商标中的财富机会。

In market economy, trademark is closely related to fortune. Many trademark registration cases push the trademark owner and registrant to court, just because of the huge commercial interest involved. When the law fails to prescribe sophisticated regulation against vicious trademark registration, how do we have to judge this kind of actions? Trademark awareness is not just the conscience to protect it, but also the keen sense of its potential commercial value. From this perspective, the registration of some well known marks, images, items, symbols, sometimes even business logos and marks in use as trademarks by registrant without violating either the law or business ethics, is not necessarily bad for the society as a whole. It has at least one positive aspect: to enhance people's trademark awareness and to promote the value of trademark, to urge people to create fortune with it.