关于审理侵犯米其林商标案件的法律思考

Legal Considerations on the Trail of the Case of Infringement of Michelin Trademarks

商标和企业名称都有区分商品来源的功能,由于两者由不同的机构进行注册和管理,使得商标权与企业名称权发生权利冲突的情形时有发生。驰名商标的保护范围可以扩大到不相同或者不类似的商品或服务。人民法院在审理在后企业名称权与在先注册商标权发生权利冲突的民事案件中,在认定所争议商标为驰名商标的前提下,应当根据保护在先权原则和诚实信用原则,认定在后企业的行为实际上占用了驰名商标经过多年经营建立起来的商品声誉,本质上是一种不正当竞争行为,并确定在后企业应承担停止使用等民事责任。

Both a trademark and an enterprise name have the function to distinguish commodities sources. Since their registration and administration are conducted by different offices, conflicts of exculsive rights occur frequently between trademarks and enterprise’s registrated name. And the protection scope of well-known trademarks may expand to different or dissimilar commodities or services. This paper proposes that in the trail of the case and on the prerequisite of well-known trademark confirmation, according to the principle of protecting prior rights and the principle of good faith, the People’s Court should ascertain that the later action of enterprises actually take up the reputation of commodity built up for many years by the well-known trademark, which is indeed an act of unfair competition. So the later enterprise should take the civil liability such as discontinuing the application.