声音商标显著性认定研究

摘要自从2014年5月1日起，我国《商标法》明确规定了非传统商标的可注册性，开始了对于声音商标进行法律上的保护，随后商标局、商评委在《商标审查及审理标准》中也都加入了声音商标审查标准的相关规定。然而，自2014年以来，我国声音商标的注册成功率一直很低，这可以充分反映出我国现阶段声音商标审查制度的不成熟。作为商标的一种，声音商标应具有区分商品或服务来源的显著特征，从而起到商标识别的作用。是否能可以注册为一种声音商标，需要从显著性、合法性、非功能性、在先性四方面对商标注册的实质要件进行分析，然而现行的商标注册的相关规定在声音商标注册审查的社会实践方面还没有完全适格，从而导致了法律与实务中的错位或者脱节。笔者认为应统一声音商标显著性认定标准，明确对于通用性声音和功能性声音的注册限制，规范声音商标申请文件表达方式，加强声音商标审查的专业人才建设，推动声音商标审查工作向前发展。关键词：声音商标显著性审查标准AbstractSince May 1,2014,China's Trademark Law has established the registrability ofnon-traditional trademarks and started the legal protection of sound trademarks,followed by theTrademark Office and the Shanghainese Evaluation and Evaluation Commission in theTrademark Examination and Hearing Standards,which also include relevant provisions on soundtrademark examination standards.However,the success rate of sound trademark registration inChina from 2014 to the present is very low,which can fully reflect that the examination systemfor sound trademarks in China is still immature at this stage.As a type of trade mark,a soundmark should have distinctive features to distinguish the source of goods or services and thusserve the purpose of trademark identification.Whether or not a sound trademark can beregistered,it is necessary to analyze the substantive elements of trademark registration from thefour sides of prominence,legality,non-functionality and precedence,however,the currentprovisions of trademark registration in the social practice of sound trademark registration reviewhas not been fully qualified,thus giving rise to a misalignment between law and practice.Theauthor believes that the criteria for determining the distinctiveness of sound trademarks shouldbe unified,the restrictions on the registration of generic and functional sounds should be clarified,