论商标使用概念及其立法定义的解释

On the Interpretation of the Concept of Trademark Use and Its Legislative Definition

对商标使用概念的模糊认识长期存在,错误理解在实践中较长时间成为主导意见,原因在于欠缺体系思维和法律方法意识,以及商标法理论研究与实践脱节、难以及时解答实践中的疑问。综合运用比较解释、体系解释和目的解释等解释方法,可以厘清该概念的真实含义;辨析商标使用概念与商标专用权、禁用权之间的关系,可以从正反两面认识该概念。《商标法》第48条定义中“用于识别商品来源”的表述,意在界定商标使用概念的内涵,揭示其本质特征,并非要将范围限缩为商标已实际发挥识别作用的情形。在将来修改《商标法》时应该对该立法定义的表述进行完善,避免继续造成误解。

The ambiguous understanding over the concept of trademark use has come a long way, and misinterpretation has become the dominant opinion in practice for a long time. The reasons lie in the lack of systematic thinking and consciousness of legal methods, as well as theoretical research of trademark law being divorced from practice leading to difficulty in timely answering questions encountered in practice. Through comprehensive use of interpretative methods including comparative interpretation, systematic interpretation and purposive interpretation, ture meaning of the concept can be articulated. By analyzing the relationship between the concept of trademark use and the exclusive right to use and right of prohibition of using trademark, from two directions can the concept be recognized. The phrase “so as to identify the sources of goods” in the definition in Article 48 of the Trademark Law is intended to define the connotation of and reveal the essential characteristics of the concept of trademark use, but not to limit its scope to the situation where the trademark has actually played a role of identification. When amending the Trademark Law in the future, the legislative definition should be improved to avoid further misunderstanding.