商标显著性新探

商标显著性新探

彭学龙  中南财经政法大学  副教授，法学博士

关键词: 显著性/固有显著性/获得显著性 distinctiveness/inherent distinctiveness/acquired distinctiveness

内容提要: 显著性是商标所具有的标示产品出处并使之区别于其他同类产品的属性。传统理论将显著性划分为固有显著性与获得显著性，并表现出对固有显著性的偏爱，认为获得显著性只是显著性的拟制。实际上，固有显著性不过是商标获得显著性的有利条件，并非本来意义上的显著性，获得显著性才是真正的显著性。没有天生的商标，任何标志都只有经历了获得显著性的过程才成为真正的商标。因此，对商标强度起决定作用的是获得显著性，而最终决定获得显著性强弱的是市场和消费者。 Distinctiveness means a trademark, s ability to identify and distinguish his or her goods from those manufactured or sold by others and to indicate the source of the goods. According to the traditional theory, the distinctiveness could be either inherent or acquired while the former is superior and the latter is nothing but the fiction of the distinctiveness. As a matter of fact, the inherent distinctiveness is not the real distinctiveness but mere an advantageous condition for a trademark to acquire distinctiveness. Therefore there exist no born trademark and only those has acquired distinctiveness could become the real trademark in the market. It is the acquired distinctiveness that determines the strength of a mark while the acquired distinctiveness relies ultimately upon the market and the consumers.

显著性这一概念是商标法正常运行的枢纽，