商標商品化之研究

Abstract

商標商品化是一個極大之市場，於2010年時，美國專業球隊以及學校球隊官方授權販賣之商品，具統計會有超過100億美元之銷售額。這些商標商品化之商品，對於球隊、學校支持者而言，相當具有吸引力，縱使此種商品之單價較高，消費者還是願意加以購買。然而，何謂商標商品化，其定義為何，此必須先加以釐清。其次，在1970年代到1980年代，商標權人開始了解到其商標之商品化價值，以及透過授權可獲得之利益，因此，商標權人通常會要求使用者與其訂定授權契約，也因此，在商標權人是否擁有商品化權之爭議上，在商業實務上似乎是承認有商品化權存在。然而，美國學者自1970年代起，就對此存在有兩種不同之見解。本研究試從學者之見解出發，並檢視在目前商標法體系之下，商品化權存在之妥適性。再者，當無法肯認商品化權之存在時，商標權人欲控制他人所為之商品化行為，必須回到商標侵害之相關規定，此時，須視使用人之行為是否構成商標使用，以及混淆誤認之虞，此兩者亦為本研究於之後章節所討論之重點。我國司法實務面臨到商標商品化之案件時，其對於使用人之行為是否構成商標使用，法院有歧異之見解，本研究會試圖從法院見解之分析，進而了解見解之不同之處，以及其問題所在，並藉由美國法院在商品化案件中所提出之功能性特徵見解中，尋找出可供我國參考之處。最後，在混淆誤認之虞之分析上，除了分析我國法院處理方式，以及其問題所在之外，本研究亦試圖剖析美國司法實務面臨商標商品化案件之混淆誤認之虞分析，其是適用單一原則，抑或是依照個案採取各種因素综合判斷之，何種分析方法較有助於使法院判決更合乎市場現實，而可供我國加以參考。希望透過本次之研究，可以檢視目前我國實務對於商標商品化案件之處理方式，並嘗試提出可以加強之處，以供作未來實務面臨到商標商品化之案件時之參考。

Trademark merchandising is a big business. The professional and college sport teams’ related merchandises were estimated at ten billion in 2010. Even though the price higher than others, consumers still perchance those products to support their favorite college or baseball teams. However, what is trademark merchandising, that is the first question that we have to resolve. In the 1970s and 1980s, trademark holders came to realize the economic value of their trademarks on merchandise and the revenues that they could earn though licensing. Should trademark holders have the merchandising right ? Commercial practice seems to presuppose the merchandising right. Some scholars had discussed this issue in the U.S., and there were two different opinions in this question. This thesis try to investigate scholars’ opinions, and under the trademark law whether trademark holders have right to control sales of their trademarks as products. However, from trademark law and an economic perspective, there is no theoretical justification for such a right. Only when some one uses trademark holder’s trademark without licensing, and his behavior constitutes trademark use and likelihood of confusion, trademark holder can control this conduct according to trademark infringement. This thesis not only discuss trademark use and likelihood of confusion in trademark merchandising cases by analyzing U.S. and our judicial practice, but also find some problems in our judicial practice. Furthermore, we can learn and improve by analyzing opinions of U.S. courts.