Many customers have questions about applying for copyright of artworks when applying for a trademark. Why do we need to apply for copyright of artworks after applying for a trademark? So today, Changke Intellectual Property has sorted out the necessity of applying for copyright of artistic works after trademark application.

I once had a client who was sued for infringing the copyright of other people’s works of art as soon as the trademark he applied for was approved by the Trademark Office. The trademark is currently being reviewed for invalidation by others.

1. Trademarks and copyrights of artistic works do not belong to the same examination agency

Trademark applications belong to the Trademark Office, while copyright applications belong to the Copyright Office. Currently, trademarks and copyrights belong to two examination agencies and examination database, that is, when you register a trademark, the trademark examiner will not check whether there is a previous identical or similar copyright that has been applied for in the Copyright Office system database. Similarly, the Copyright Office will not check whether it exists in the trademark system. The same or earlier trademark has been applied for.

This will inevitably lead to the possibility that after you apply for trademark registration for the same trademark mark, others will apply for the copyright of your art works and counter-sue you for infringing the copyright of other people's art works, even if you can effectively If you need to provide evidence to prove that you are the right holder of the mark and respond to the appeal, this will be a time-consuming and costly matter.

Therefore, in order to avoid such disputes in the future, the simplest way is to make arrangements for intellectual property protection in advance and apply for copyright registration of art works at the lowest cost.

2. The scope of copyright protection for artistic works is wider

The scope of trademark application protection is regional, that is, a trademark applied for in China can only be protected in China and cannot be protected across regions. protection. Once a copyright is registered, it can be protected globally. Cross-industry and cross-field protection is equivalent to the protection of all 45 categories of trademarks.

3. The validity period of copyright protection for artistic works is longer

After a successful trademark application, the validity period is 10 years. If you need to continue to use it, you can go through the renewal procedures within 1 year before the expiration date. remain in effect.

After the copyright is successfully registered, the validity period will be different depending on the applicant’s qualifications.

Natural person: the author’s lifetime plus 50 years after the author’s death, and ends on December 31 of the 50th year after the author’s death.

Legal person: 50 years after the work was first published, ending on December 31 of the 50th year after the work was published.

However, copyright cannot be renewed.

4. The protection methods of trademarks and copyrights of artistic works are different

Trademarks adopt the first-to-file principle, that is, only those trademarks that need to be applied for and approved for registration have exclusive rights to trademarks.

Copyrights generally arise automatically and do not require special procedures. The purpose of copyright registration is to prove the convenience of the applicant owning the rights to the copyright. In the event of an infringement dispute, unless there are other circumstances that are sufficient to overturn the contents of the copyright registration certificate Otherwise, the party holding the registration certificate will be recognized by the judicial or administrative agency as the copyright holder of the work.

5. Reasons for conflicts between trademark rights and copyrights of works of art

Conflicts between trademark rights and copyrights usually occur when the copyright ownership of the applied trademark is unclear. Two different applicants, one party When applying for a trademark, the other party applies for copyright, but the trademark applicant cannot prove that the trademark copyright belongs to him or her, resulting in a copyright dispute based on the trademarked work.

So far, the most effective and convenient way is the copyright registration certificate. Therefore, the significance of registering copyright at the same time as trademark application is to ensure that the trademark belongs to you and that the trademark copyright belongs to you. , there will be no dispute over copyright ownership.

6. Resolution of conflicts between trademark rights and copyrights of artistic works

If a trademark dispute arises based on the copyright of a trademarked work, according to the provisions of the Trademark Law, if the copyright owner has objections to the registered trademark You can apply to the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board to cancel the registered trademark, or you can request the court to order the trademark owner to stop using its registered trademark.

Due to relatively limited trademark resources, lack of awareness of independent innovation, driven economic interests, and legislative omissions, conflicts between trademark rights and copyrights occur frequently. Therefore, when there is a conflict between copyright and trademark rights or other rights, it is particularly important to confirm copyright rights; although copyrights are subject to automatic protection, this automatic protection cannot effectively prove copyright rights when confirming rights. , that is, automatic copyright protection has the disadvantage of confirming rights. Therefore, in order to avoid unclear copyright rights, registering the copyright first while registering the trademark is the best way to ensure that there will be no problems with trademark rights.

7. Why use colored logos when applying for copyright of artistic works?

When applying for copyright for graphic marks, you can use black and white or color. However, the color design of general works also reflects some of the originality of the work. If you combine the application with color, the effect will be better. If you only submit black and white That's just protecting the architecture of the pattern. You can also apply for a series of works to protect both color and black and white.