商标法上公有领域的保护

随着知识产权保护力度日渐增强,知识产权专有性与公有领域之间的矛盾愈加显现.近年来知识产权公有领域的保护被学界所关注,国内学者的研究多见于著作权法上公有领域的保护,专利法、商标法上公有领域保护的研究甚少.现实中常见一些把原本属于公共资源的文字、图形等作为商标注册后进行不当使用,并试图阻止他人“非商标意义上的使用”.如此一来,公有领域逐渐被蚕食“瓜分”而纳入专有领域,极大地影响公众的表达自由与言论自由.因此,商标法中的公有领域亟待获得维护.通过对商标法上公有领域保护问题的探讨,以警示对公共资源的维护,并提出完善我国商标权限制制度的建议.

The Protection on the Public Domain in Trademark Law

With the increasingly stronger protection for intellectual property rights, the contradiction between the exclusivity of intellectual property and the public domain is gradually apparent. In recent years, the protection of the public domain in intellectual property attracts the concern from academic circle. Most of the domestic research about the protection on public domain falls in the copyright law, instead of the patent law or trademark law. In reality, it is common that someone registers words, graphics, etc. which belong to the public resources as trademarks and then improperly uses the registered trademarks, and also prevents others from using them even not as trademark. As a consequence, the public domain will be gradually encroached and "carved up" into the exclusive domain, which greatly affects the public’s freedom of expression and freedom of speech. Therefore, the public sphere in trademark law needs to be protected. By studying on this issue, this essay intends to cast a warning about the preservation of public resources and make some suggestions on the improvement of the system of trademark right restriction.