Resolution
Question Q181
Conditions for registration
and scope of protection of non-conventional
trade marks
AIPPI Considering:
a) that the types of sign used
by businesses to distinguish their goods and
services have expanded beyond “traditional”
word and device marks;
b) that trade mark owners have
in recent years increasingly attempted to
obtain registered
trade mark protection for “non-conventional”
marks, such as colours, shapes, sounds and
smells;
c) the importance of providing
adequate means of protection to such “non-conventional”
trade
marks;
d) that national and regional
laws and practices have responded differently
to the legal questions and administrative
demands posed by attempts to register “non-conventional”
marks
and have differed in their acceptance of the
extent to which “non-conventional” marks can
fulfil the primary function of a trade mark,
i.e. to identify the origin or source of the
goods or
services in respect of which it is registered;
e) that tension may exist between
the wish to register “non-conventional” trade
marks and the
difficulties in clearly defining, graphically
representing, publishing and searching such
trade
marks;
f) that applications to register
a colour per se are complicated by the fact
that colours are often
used for decorative or other purposes and
that in some instances the public is not used
to recognizing colour as an indication of
origin;
g) that three-dimensional shapes
can be solely functional or necessary in relation
to the goods
for which they are used;
h) that many countries allow
registration of colours per se and of three-dimensional
shapes as
trade marks only on the basis of their acquired
distinctiveness.
Noting:
a) AIPPI’s Resolutions Q23,
Q68 and Q92C-96;
b) paragraph 5 of Resolution
Q148 which provides: “Trade mark law should
not protect 3D
shapes that are solely functional or necessary,
namely those which solely: (a) result from
the nature of the goods themselves, or (b)
are necessary to obtain a technical result
relating
to the nature of the goods or services covered
by the mark.”; and
c) the fact that a trade mark
can consist of any sign capable of distinguishing
the goods or
services of one undertaking from those of
other undertakings warrants a broad and flexible
approach to the registration and protection
of non-conventional trademarks.
1
Resolves:
1) “Non-conventional” trade
marks should, in principle, be capable of
constituting registered
trade marks.
2) The representation of a
“non-conventional” trade mark must be clear,
precise, easily accessible and intelligible.
The public must be able to understand the
nature of the trade mark.
3) A colour per se can be capable
of registration as a trade mark. In many cases
a colour per
se will only be registrable on the basis of
distinctiveness acquired through use. There
may
also be circumstances where a colour per se
may be registered on the basis of inherent
distinctiveness in relation to certain goods
or services.
4) In relation to 3D shapes,
paragraph 5 of resolution Q148 is confirmed.
5) A sound can be capable of
registration as a trade mark and should not
be subject to a requirement of graphic representation.
A sound mark may be represented by musical
notation
or other description or by means unequivocally
reproducing the sound.
6) A smell can be capable of
registration as a trade mark and should not
be subject to a requirement of graphic representation.
A smell mark should be represented by means
unequivocally describing or reproducing the
smell.
7) Trade mark offices should
cooperate to harmonise and promote effective
methods of representing non-conventional trade
marks.
Q181
非常规商标注册的条件和保护范围（参考译文）
考虑到：
a) 商业界用来区别其商品和服务的标记的种类已超出了“传统”意义上的文字和图形标志；
b) 近年来，试图取得诸如颜色、形状、声音和气味商标等非常规商标注册保护的商标所有人日渐增多，
c) 对这些非常规商标提供适当保护的重要性；
d) 各国家和地区法律及实践中，对试图注册非常规商标所提出的法律问题和行政需要作出了不同的回应，而且，在非常规商标能否满足商标的首要功能，即商标是用来区分其指定商品或服务的来源方面，接受的程度也不一样；
e) 在注册非常规商标的愿望和清楚地界定、以文字来表达、公告和查询这些商标的困难之间可能存在紧张的状态
f) 事实上，颜色通常用于装饰或其他目的，并且，在某些情况下，公众习惯上不将颜色当作产品来源的标记，因此注册一种颜色商标本身的申请是复杂的；
g) 三维图形可能具有唯一的功能性或者必须与其所使用的商品相联系；
h) 许多国家允许颜色本身以及三维图形作为商标注册，但仅仅基于其具备了显著性。
注意到：
a) AIPPI的Q23、Q68、Q92C-96决议；
b) 第148题决议的第5段指出，“商标法不应保护仅仅具有功能性的或者必须的三维形状，即那些完全：(a)
来源于商品自身的特点或 (b)在获得与该商标所保护的商品或服务的特性相关的技术成果时是必须的（形状）”；
c) 商标可以包含任何能够区别一个单位与另一个单位的商品或服务的标志的事实，保证了一个广阔和灵活的注册和保护非常规性商标的方法。
决议：
1) 非常规商标原则上应能够构成注册商标。
2) 对非常规商标的描述应清晰、准确、详尽、容易接触和明白。公众必须能够了解该商标的特点。
3) 单一颜色本身可以作为商标注册。许多情况下，单一颜色本身只有在通过使用获得显著性的基础上才能注册。有些情况下，单一颜色本身也可能基于与某些商品或服务有关的具有固有的显著性获得注册。
4) 至于三维形状，148题决议的第5段已经确认。
5) 声音可以作为商标注册，并且不应必须有图示性描述。声音商标可通过乐谱或其它描述，或通过明确的复制声音的方法进行表示。
6) 气味可以作为商标注册，并且不应必须有图示性描述。气味商标应通过明确的说明或复制该气味的方法进行表示。
7) 各国商标局应通过合作来协调和推广有效的描述非常规商标的方法。
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