商标授权确权中地域性原则的重构——基于中美实践的比较

继存废争议后,人们对地域性原则的真正内涵少有研究。恶意抢注外国知名商标屡禁不止,根源在于对外国商标使用地域限定为中国大陆地区及将国内使用作为第一要件的要求,不符合现代商业实践及商标法地域性原则。经比较,美国法不以外国商标在境内使用为条件,只要抢注行为对美国相关公众识别利益造成误导和混淆即予以禁止,体现了保护本国法益的地域性原则本质。实用主义财产理论和反欺诈理论认为,在使用行为和显著性效果二元论下应以显著性效果为皈依。地域性原则内涵既包括行为地,更包括结果地,在授权确权中应摒弃以商标使用行为地为标准的做法,建立以商标知名度所及之结果地的地域性标准,并结合抢注者主观恶意,认可域外使用证据,对显著性所及之本国公众利益予以保护。

On the Reconstruction of Territoriality Principle in Trademark Grant and Confirmation: Based on the Comparative Studies Between China and US

After the debate over whether to abolish the territoriality principle,little studies have been done on the connotation of the principle.Malicious registration of well-known foreign trademarks continues despite repeated prohibition,mainly because the geographical area in which the foreign trademarks are allowed to use is restricted to China's Mainland,and domestic use is regarded as the first requirement,which don’t conform to modern business practices and the trademark territoriality principle.By comparison,the US law does not make the use of foreign trademarks in US territory as a condition,and trademark squatting is forbidden as long as it harms the US public interests due to misleading and confusion,which reveals the nature of territoriality principle in protecting domestic legal interests.Pragmatic property theory and anti-fraud theory believe that under the dualism composed of using behavior and significant effects,the significant effects should prevail.The connotation of territoriality principle covers both the place of conduct and the place of consequence.In trademark grant and confirmation,the standard based on the place of using behavior should be abandoned,rather,a territoriality standard based on the place of consequence reached by the popularity of the trademark should be established.On this basis,the paper proposes to consider the trademark squatter’s subjective malice and adopt the evidence of extraterritorial usage,to give protection over domestic public interests.