中国最高法禁止抢注名人商标

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.

中国最高人民法院(Supreme People's Court)表示，名人的姓名不能以可能欺骗消费者的方式注册为商标。这一表态是最高法一轮司法解释的一部分，这轮司法解释将提高中国为数众多的商标抢注者的生存难度。

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.

中国最高人民法院表示，中国商标法禁止将“政治、经济、文化、宗教、民族等领域公众人物”的姓名，以会让消费者对产品来源、品质或特征产生误解的方式用到商标中。

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.

就在这一解释出台一个多月前，该法院曾裁定迈克尔•乔丹(Michael Jordan)拥有对其姓氏中文翻译的权益，推翻了此前较低级法院做出的支持一家中国企业的判决。该企业在未经乔丹本人同意的情况下，围绕这位前芝加哥公牛队(Chicago Bulls)篮球明星的名字建立了自己的业务。

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.

在中国，商标通常会被授予第一位申请人，这让“商标抢注”现象十分猖獗。这次司法解释与单个法律裁决的地位不同，它是对中国较低级法院的通行指导意见。至于它在3月1日生效后会产生多大影响，则部分依赖于商标法法院如何定义“公众人物”。

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.

中国最高法这些新条文或减轻唐纳德•特朗普(Donald Trump)等公众人物的担忧。据法新社(AFP)报道，特朗普在中国至少有45个以自己名字发起的商标申请在等待批准，此举似乎是为了防范商标抢注人士的困扰。