基于诚实信用原则对恶意商标注册的诉讼调整

Judicial Adjustment of Malicious Trademark Registrations Based on the Principle of Good Faith

摘要: 中国最高法院2021年审理的一起侵害商标权纠纷再审案件，为研究恶意注册商标问题提供了典型案例。在该案及此前的系列判决中，最高法院指出：恶意注册的商标侵犯他人在先著作权等合法权益，因此，基于违反诚实信用原则恶意取得的商标权，其权利主张构成权利滥用，因缺乏合法的请求权基础而不应受法律保护。对于商标恶意注册问题，亦可借鉴美国商标法相关制度，在商标注册的前置和后续阶段均要求申请人持续性地提供使用商标的证据，以进一步规制商标恶意注册行为。目前，中国司法实践通过诚实信用原则的适用，探索构建出“权利取得合法性–权利行使正当性”的分析框架，在一定程度上能够在诉讼中阻断商标恶意抢注者的权利行使路径，但该框架仍需在实践中进一步完善。

Abstract: A 2021 retrial case involving a trademark infringement dispute by the Supreme People’s Court of China provides a case study for examining the issue of malicious trademark registrations. In this and a series of previous rulings, the Supreme People’s Court has pointed out that maliciously registered trademarks infringe upon the legitimate rights and interests of others, such as prior copyrights. Therefore, claims based on trademark rights obtained in bad faith in violation of the principle of good faith constitute an abuse of rights, and such claims should not be protected by law due to the lack of a legitimate basis of claim right. To address the remaining issues of malicious trademark registration, China could draw on relevant systems in U.S. trademark law by requiring applicants to continuously provide evidence of trademark use both prior to and following registration, thereby further regulating malicious trademark registration. Currently, through the application of the principle of good faith, Chinese judicial practice has explored the construction of an analytical framework of “legitimacy of rights acquisition-justification of rights exercise”, which, to a certain extent, can block the exercise of rights by malicious trademark squatters in litigation; however, this framework still requires further refinement in practice.