中國最高法禁止搶注名人商標(biāo)

China’s top court has said celebrity names cannot be registered as trademarks in ways that could deceive consumers, part of a legal interpretation that will make life harder for the country’s numerous trademark squatters.

中國最高人民法院(Supreme People's Court)表示，名人的姓名不能以可能欺騙消費(fèi)者的方式注冊為商標(biāo)。這一表態(tài)是最高法一輪司法解釋的一部分，這輪司法解釋將提高中國為數(shù)眾多的商標(biāo)搶注者的生存難度。

China’s Supreme People’s Court stated that the country’s trademark law bars the names of “public figures from such areas as politics, economics, culture, religion and ethnicity” from being used in trademarks in a way that would mislead consumers about the origin, quality or special characteristics of products.

中國最高人民法院表示，中國商標(biāo)法禁止將“政治、經(jīng)濟(jì)、文化、宗教、民族等領(lǐng)域公眾人物”的姓名，以會讓消費(fèi)者對產(chǎn)品來源、品質(zhì)或特征產(chǎn)生誤解的方式用到商標(biāo)中。

The interpretation comes a little over a month after the court ruled Michael Jordan had rights over the Chinese translation of his surname, overturning verdicts by lower level courts supporting a Chinese company that had built its business around the moniker of the former Chicago Bulls basketball star without his consent.

就在這一解釋出臺一個多月前，該法院曾裁定邁克爾•喬丹(Michael Jordan)擁有對其姓氏中文翻譯的權(quán)益，推翻了此前較低級法院做出的支持一家中國企業(yè)的判決。該企業(yè)在未經(jīng)喬丹本人同意的情況下，圍繞這位前芝加哥公牛隊(Chicago Bulls)籃球明星的名字建立了自己的業(yè)務(wù)。

In China trademarks are typically granted to the first applicant, making “trademark squatting” rampant. The impact of the interpretation, which does not have the same standing as a legal ruling but serves as general guidance for lower courts in China, will depend in part on how trademark courts define “public figure” once it comes into effect on March 1.

在中國，商標(biāo)通常會被授予第一位申請人，這讓“商標(biāo)搶注”現(xiàn)象十分猖獗。這次司法解釋與單個法律裁決的地位不同，它是對中國較低級法院的通行指導(dǎo)意見。至于它在3月1日生效后會產(chǎn)生多大影響，則部分依賴于商標(biāo)法法院如何定義“公眾人物”。

The court’s new provisions could ease the fears of public figures such as Donald Trump, who has at least 45 pending trademark applications in China under his own name in an apparent attempt to protect against IP squatters, according to an AFP report.

中國最高法這些新條文或減輕唐納德•特朗普(Donald Trump)等公眾人物的擔(dān)憂。據(jù)法新社(AFP)報道，特朗普在中國至少有45個以自己名字發(fā)起的商標(biāo)申請在等待批準(zhǔn)，此舉似乎是為了防范商標(biāo)搶注人士的困擾。