商標混淆誤認之虞判斷──以法國與歐盟為視角（譯文）

The Evaluation of Likelihood of Confusion in Trademark Law: French and European Aspects

歐洲聯盟各成員國在判斷是否構成商標侵權時，關於「如何判斷混淆誤認之虞」已在相當程度上被調和，而此議題涉及兩方面，一方面是涉及歐盟境內具單一效力之歐盟商標，另一方面則是先後透過兩項歐盟指令促使各成員國法規趨近，同時，歐洲聯盟法院（CJUE）之判例自1990年代起在本領域扮演重要角色，逐步確立商標權人在侵權訴訟中之各項要件，以及採用「整體觀察法」以判斷混淆誤認之虞，其分為四步驟：首先是評價商標之近似度，接著是評價商品和服務之類似度，同時也需斟酌其他要素，例如商標之知名程度（renommée）、所涉商品之簡易或複雜特性、所涉消費者之注意程度，以及使用在後商標之商品價格或品質等，最後，還需考量前述各因素之相互依賴性，但鑑於此判斷過程之複雜性，歐盟區域內商標法領域仍難以實現完全一致。

The evaluation of the likelihood of confusion in trademark infringement in Member States of the European Union is harmonized to a certain extent. There are two aspects to this issue. Firstly, A European Union trademark is valid in all European Union Member States. Secondly, pursuant to two successive European Trademark Directives, the regulations in the European Union Member States become approximated. The case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (hereinafter referred to as ''CJEU'') has played a significant role in this issue since the 1990s. The CJEU specifies the conditions of trademark infringement litigations and develops ''the overall assessment method'' to identify the trademark likelihood of confusion. The four phases of this method are as followed: first of all, the similarity of the trademarks. Second, the similarity of the goods and services as well as other elements such as the notoriety of the trademark, the simple or sophisticated nature of the goods, the level of attention of the targeted consumers, and the price and quality of the goods using the later trademark. Last but not least, the interdependency of the above-mentioned elements. Nevertheless, the evaluation of trademark infringement is difficult to achieve perfect harmonization in Europe because of its complicated process.