商标抢注行为中诚信条款的司法适用研究

Research on Judicial Application of the Good Faith Clause in Trademarks Squatting

我国2013年《商标法》第7条增加了诚信条款,明确任何商标申请和使用行为应遵循诚信原则。诚信原则对商标权的取得提出了洁净之手的要求,这与在先使用商标是否具有知名度、抢注人与被抢注人是否具有特定联系不具有直接关系,诚信条款能够弥补具体条款在遏制商标抢注时的规范性疏漏、纠正第44条第1款在保护特定私人利益上的解释困难和适用混乱。商标申请人主观上明知商标在先使用或注册,以竞争性阻碍或谋取不正当利益为目的注册商标属于违反诚信条款的抢注行为,应作为宣告商标无效的相对理由,同时在商标侵权救济中,拒绝对抢注商标提供任何保护。

The Trademark Law of China in 2013 adds a good faith clause as Article 7,clarifying that the application for registration and use of a trademark should follow the principle of good faith.Article 7 puts forward the requirements of the clean hand for the acquisition of trademark rights.This is not directly related to whether the trademark is well-known,or whether the squatter and the party which has already used the trademark have specific connections.The good faith article can remedy the omission of specific terms containing trademark squatting,and correct the interpretation difficulty and application confusion in the protection of specific private interests in paragraph 1 of Article 44.If a trademark applicant is aware that the trademark has already been used or registered before the application,but still registers the trademark for the purpose of competitively impeding or seeking illegitimate interests,such application shall be declared invalid.At the same time,courts should refuse to provide any protection for the trademarks registered by squatters.