试析商标法诚实信用原则的适用——由“毕加索”案引发的思考

Analysis on Application of the Principle of Good Faith in Trademark Law:Reflection on the Case of “Picasso”

"毕加索"案是一场发酵已久的民事纠纷,涉及对《合同法》第52条中"恶意串通损害第三人利益之行为"的理解,同时牵涉到民法、商标法等民事法律关系中诚实信用原则的适用。终审法院认为,"明知"不构成"恶意",进而认定该案在后签订的独占许可使用合同不属于"恶意串通损害第三人利益"的情形,因而给予其肯定的法律效力,此种解释不符合法理。产生这个问题的根本原因在于法院误将法律意义上的"恶意"与中国本土词汇"恶意"相混淆,又未考虑诚信原则效力的彻底性及内容的强行规定性等特征,故在具体适用时偏离了立法的价值取向。因此,有必要重申诚实信用原则的帝王条款地位,通过区分主观诚信与客观诚信来明确相关行为的效力及发生侵权后的具体赔偿数额,并主张重视主观诚信,通过制止"恶意"来从根本上保障商标市场的有序运行。

＂Picasso＂ case is a long lasting civil dispute.It refers to the understanding of the behavior of malicious collusion harm to the interests of the third party in article 52 of the Contract Law,and involves the application of the principle of good faith in civil legal relations of Civil Law,Trademark Law and so on.The court of final appeal considers that ＂knowing＂ does not constitute ＂subjective mala fides＂,and the contract of exclusive license to use signed later in the case does not belong to the situation of malicious collusion harm to the interests of the third party,thus it should be given the affirmative legal effect.This explanation does not conform to the law theory.The fundamental cause of this problem lies in the fact that the court confused ＂malice＂ in the legal sense and ＂malice＂ of Chinese native words,and did not consider the characteristics of the completeness of the effectiveness and the content of the mandatory provisions of the principle of good faith.So,in the specific application of the article,it deviated from the value orientation of the legislation.Therefore,it is necessary to reaffirm that the principle of good faith is the status of imperial clause,and it can clarify the effectiveness of the relevant acts and the specific amount of compensation of the infringementby distinguishing subjective good faith and the objective one.Thus,it suggests that the subjective good faith should be taken seriously,and it can protect the orderly operation of the trademark market fundamentally by stopping the malice.