零排放和电动车领域变革引领的燃料竞赛—引入商标保护正当时

近年来在电动车领域出现了一些被广泛报道的重要监管和市场变化。这些都推动了品牌所有人提供适用于汽车空间的商品以及增加服务的方式的变革，并在该领域引入了新的竞争者。这些都影响着公司需要处理品牌保护的情形。能调整商标保护策略使之最快适应商业计划的企业将会获得对竞争对手的核心优势。

There have been some important and widely reported regulatory and market changes in recent months and years in the field of Electric Vehicles (EVs). This has driven changes in how brand owners in the automotive space provide goods and, increasingly, services and has drawn new entrants to activity in the automotive sector. This affects how companies need to approach brand protection and businesses that can adapt their trade mark protection strategy to ensure this fits with their commercial plans in this space quickest will have a key advantage over competitors.

为了解决气候变化问题，全世界的政府近年来都在致力于通过例如2021 年联合国气候变化大会以及即将到来的2022年联合国气候变化大会的国际协议和倡议设置碳减排和零排放的立法和承诺。继俄乌冲突之后，对于能源安全的关切亦与日俱增。

To tackle climate change governments around the world have, in recent years, worked to impose legislation and commitments to decarbonisation and net zero emissions through international agreements and initiatives such as COP 26 in 2021 and the upcoming COP 27 conference in Egypt. Concerns over energy security have also increased following the conflict in Ukraine.

在英国，政府已经承诺终止销售新的燃油和柴油车（2030年）和以及混合动力车型（2035年）。新的英国建筑法规的S部分最近也规定了自2022年6月30日起要求所有的新建住宅须配备电动车充电桩。新的电动车充电桩将要求具备智能监控、管理和延迟电流以纾缓电网压力的能力。

In the UK, the government has already made a commitment to end the sale of new petrol and diesel cars in 2030 and hybrids in 2035. There is also a recently imposed requirement as of 30 June 2022 in Part S of the new UK Building Regulations for all new build residential properties now to be equipped with EV charging points.  New EV charge points will have to have “smart” capabilities to monitor, manage and delay the flow of electricity to ease pressure on the grid.

这些变化都迫使汽车领域的运营商们将业务集中于电动车领域，这个趋势以及技术和消费者行为的演变，直接影响了货物和服务的提供方式以及具体实施的技术方案。

These changes have forced operators in the automotive field to focus activity on the EV sector and this, in conjunction with changes in technology and consumer behaviour, has directly affected how goods and services are provided and the technological solutions required to implement them. 

例如，目前存在一项为消费者监控、改善以及报告电动车充电表现的持续性要求。同时汽车生产商以预订产品车型的方式提供“交通即出行”的解决方案也正逐渐上升为一种趋势。其中一个例子为沃尔沃今年年初决定仅通过在线购买/订阅而不是通过英国的交易商出售电动车，该模式预期将会在其他国家复制。

For example, there is an ongoing requirement to monitor, improve and report on charging performance of EVs for customers. It is also the case that there has been an increased trend of automotive manufacturers now offering “transport as a service” solutions in the form of subscription models for products. An example of this is Volvo’s decision earlier this year only to offer sales of EVs exclusively through online purchase/subscriptions rather than through dealerships in the UK (mirrored and anticipated in other territories).

这些变化带来了两个重要的影响。首先汽车的品牌所有人正在增加提供适用于汽车空间的新的附加产品和服务，这些产品和服务包括能提供订阅和追踪车辆性能、磨损以及充电表现的功能软件和数字化解决方案。

These changes have two important implications. Firstly, brand owners in the automotive space are increasingly providing new add-on products and services including software and digital solutions for offering subscriptions and tracking performance, wear and tear and charging performance of vehicles. 

其次，在电动车内需要运行的产品和服务的扩展意味着将新的参与者引入到了汽车领域，例如软件、硬件、技术以及电力供应和能源解决方案的提供商。

Secondly, the expansion of product and service offerings required to operate in the EV space means there are new entrants to the automotive field such as providers of software, hardware and tech as well as power supply and energy solutions.

由此，传统的汽车品牌正在迁入新的技术领域，同时从技术和基础设施领域加入到这个行业的新竞争者亦需要设计和开发适用于汽车空间的新产品和服务。基于这种情况，同时由于商标保护策略需要通过所提供的商品和服务来进行界定，各品牌所有人将需要相应扩展商标保护的范围以确保权利覆盖范围与其现有和将来的商业利益相匹配。

As such, traditional automotive brands are moving into new areas of technology and new entrants to this space in the areas of tech and infrastructure are having to design and develop new products and services for the automotive space. Because of this and since trade mark protection is defined by reference to the goods and services being provided, brand owners need to expand protection accordingly to ensure coverage matches their current and future commercial interests.

出于上述情况的考虑，加上同时需要对包括审核和扩展产品和服务提供在内的业务策略进行构建，各品牌所有人应相应审核和调整其商标保护策略。

As such and in conjunction with devising their business strategy including review and expansion of product and service offerings, brand owners should adapt and review their trade mark protection accordingly.

需要注意的是，过去在不同领域经营的不同品牌在这个新领域的业务越重叠，则各方因使用和保护类似商标而产生冲突的风险也就越大。因此在商标保护领域拥有“先发优势”以及尽早审核商标保护状况并解决这些问题的品牌将最有能力应对上述挑战。

It is also the case that the more overlap there is between different brands which have previously operated in different areas, the greater the risk of conflict in their use and protection of similar trade marks. As such, there is a “first mover advantage” in the area of trade mark protection and the brands which can resolve these issues and review their protection earliest may well be best placed to meet these challenges.