商标反向混淆的认定及其适用

Identification of Trademark Reverse Confusion and Its Application

近些年来,源于美国的反向混淆理论在我国司法实务中多次出现,影响颇大。作为一种有别于传统正向混淆的商标侵权行为,反向混淆侵权对商标权人、消费者和经济市场均会造成不利影响。对于反向混淆,我国司法实践中有必要以商标法第五十七条的规定为裁判依据,将该条款的"混淆"解释为"正向混淆"和"反向混淆",并严格反向混淆的认定条件,将知名企业使用他人不知名商标于不相同或不类似商品或服务上的行为排除在反向混淆范畴之外。

in recent years, the theory of reverse confusion originated from the United States has appeared many times in China’s judicial practice, which has a great influence. As a kind of trademark infringement which is different from the traditional positive confusion, the reverse confusion infringement will have a negative impact on the trademark owners, consumers and the economic market. Regarding reverse confusion, it is necessary for China’s judicial practice to take the provisions of Article 57 of the Trademark Law as the basis for adjudication, and interpret the "confusion" of this provision as "forward confusion" and "reverse confusion". At the same time, China’s judiciary must also strictly determine the conditions of reverse confusion, and exclude the behavior of wellknown companies using other people’s unknown trademarks on different or similar goods or services from the scope of reverse confusion.