Abstract: The Trademark Law of the People’s Republic of China, also referred to as the Trademark Law, is an important tool for protecting trademark intellectual property rights. After the establishment of the Trademark Law, it not only facilitates the practice of trademark authorities and judicial departments, but also helps trademark rights holders protect their own rights. It is of great significance to raising domestic and international trademark registration awareness. There are many basic implementation principles of trademark law, including the registration principle, the first-to-file principle, the principle of good faith, etc. Let’s take a look at it with the editor. What are the basic implementation principles of trademark law

1. Registration principles

Registration is a process of confirming the ownership of the exclusive right to trademark. There are two basic principles adopted by the trademark laws of various countries in the world to confirm the exclusive right of trademarks, one is the registration principle, and the other is the use principle. The so-called registration principle means that the exclusive right to trademark is obtained through registration. Regardless of whether the trademark is used or not, as long as it complies with the provisions of the Trademark Law and is approved and registered by the trademark authority, the applicant will obtain the exclusive right to the trademark and be protected by law. The principle of use means that trademarks can generate rights through use. According to this principle, the first user can obtain the exclusive right to use a trademark. Article 3 of China's Trademark Law stipulates: "A trademark approved and registered by the Trademark Office is a registered trademark, and the trademark registrant enjoys the exclusive right to use the trademark and is protected by law." It can be seen that China's Trademark Law adopts the registration principle.

2. First to apply principle

The first to apply principle is one of the important procedural principles derived from the registration principle. Since the exclusive right to use a trademark is generated based on registration, and there is not always one person applying for registration of the same or similar trademark on the same or similar goods, then the time at which the application is submitted determines who owns the exclusive right to the trademark. Whoever owns it is an effective method. Therefore, Article 18 of the Trademark Law stipulates: “If two or more applicants apply for registration of the same or similar trademarks on the same goods or similar goods, the one with the earlier application shall be preliminarily reviewed and announced. trademark". This is the first-to-apply principle. According to this principle, even if a trademark has been used for many years, if you do not apply for registration in time, you will lose the opportunity to register because someone else applied first, and you will not get the exclusive right to the trademark. Of course, there are times when the first-to-file principle does not work. When two or more trademarks apply for registration on the same day, other methods must be used to determine the ownership of the exclusive rights. Therefore, Article 18 also stipulates that “if applications are made on the same day, the trademark that has been used first will be initially reviewed and announced, and applications from others will be rejected and will not be announced.” This shows that on the premise that we adopt the first-to-file principle, Also use first as an appropriate supplement.

3. The principle of good faith

The principle of good faith is a basic principle in the field of civil law. Its legal expression is stipulated in Article 4 of the "General Principles of Civil Law": "Civil Activities should abide by the principle of good faith. "The principle of good faith requires civil subjects to maintain a balance of interests between the parties and a balance between the interests of the parties and the interests of society in civil activities. In the interest relationship between parties, the principle of good faith requires respecting the interests of others and treating other people's affairs as one's own, so as to ensure that all parties involved in the legal relationship can get the benefits they deserve and not benefit themselves at the expense of others. When special circumstances occur that cause the interest relationship between the parties to be out of balance, adjustments should be made to restore the balance of interests, thereby maintaining a certain social and economic order. In the interest relationship between the parties and society, the principle of good faith requires that parties shall not harm the interests of third parties and society through their civil activities, and must exercise their rights within the legal scope of rights and in a manner consistent with their social and economic purposes.

4. Principle of voluntary registration

The so-called "principle of voluntary registration" means that whether or not to register a trademark used by an enterprise is completely decided by the enterprise. Article 4 of the Trademark Law stipulates that enterprises, public institutions and individual industrial and commercial entities that need to obtain the exclusive right to use a trademark for the goods they produce, manufacture, process, select or distribute, or for the services they provide, must submit a trademark application to the Trademark Law. Apply for product trademark or service trademark registration with the bureau. If an enterprise does not need or does not plan to obtain the exclusive right to use a trademark for the time being, it does not need to register. This registered trademark is allowed to be used, but the user does not have exclusive rights and cannot prohibit others from using it.

5. Principles of centralized registration and hierarchical management

Centralized registration and hierarchical management are one of the outstanding features of China’s trademark legal system.

According to the characteristics of the market economy and trademarks themselves, trademark registration should break the division between departments and regions, and the Trademark Office should be responsible for the review, approval and registration of trademarks. To this end, Article 2 of the Trademark Law stipulates: “The Trademark Office of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce shall be responsible for the registration and management of trademarks nationwide.” This determines that the Trademark Office of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce shall be responsible for handling all trademark registration work nationwide. , no other institution has the right to handle trademark registration, clarifying the principle of centralized registration. Hierarchical management refers to the industrial and commercial administration agencies at all levels carrying out trademark management work in the region in accordance with legal provisions. The implementation of hierarchical management is conducive to closely integrating trademark management work with local actual conditions, making trademark administrative work regular and institutionalized.

6. The principle of parallel administrative protection and judicial protection

This is another outstanding feature of China’s trademark legal system. The Trademark Law stipulates that for trademark infringement, the infringed party can choose to have it handled by the industrial and commercial administrative authorities or file a lawsuit in the People's Court. If the infringed party files a complaint to the industrial and commercial administration authorities, the industrial and commercial administrative authorities may, based on the valid evidence provided by the infringed party or the evidence obtained during its own investigation, order the infringer to immediately stop its infringing behavior, compensate the infringed party for its losses, and also A fine can be imposed at the same time. If the parties concerned are dissatisfied with the penalty decision made by the industrial and commercial administrative authorities, they may file a lawsuit in the People's Court. The principle of parallel protection provides convenience for parties to resolve trademark disputes and is conducive to the protection of exclusive rights to trademarks.

What is the significance of establishing a trademark law?

1. The applicable international trademark registrations are limited, and the adjustments are clearly made to international trademark registrations with China as the country of origin and territories designated in China. extension applications and other related applications.

2. Clarify the qualifications of applicants for international trademark registration with China as the country of origin, the conditions and basic procedures for filing applications for international trademark registration and subsequent applications, mainly involving the application of international treaties.

3. Provisions are made on the review procedures for territorial extension applications designating China. If you want to protect a three-dimensional mark, color combination, or sound mark as a trademark, or request protection of a collective mark or certification mark, you should apply through a legally established trademark agency within 3 months from the date the mark is registered in the International Register of the International Bureau. Organization, submit relevant materials to the Trademark Office. If relevant materials are not submitted within the prescribed time limit, the Trademark Office will reject the application for territorial extension.

4. Provisions are made on the objection procedure for territorial extension applications designating China. Since the Trademark Office conducts an ex officio review of the application for territorial extension designating China and does not separately announce the review conclusion, the time for filing an objection to an internationally registered trademark is also different from the provisions of Article 33 of the revised Trademark Law. For an application for territorial extension designating China, within 3 months from the first day of the month following the publication of the World Intellectual Property Organization's "International Trademark Announcement", the opponent who meets the conditions specified in Article 33 of the "Trademark Law" may apply to the Trademark Office Raise an objection.

5. Provisions are made on the follow-up procedures related to the application for territorial extension designated by China, including renewal, transfer and deletion, which mainly involve the connection between domestic laws and international treaties. The validity period of an internationally registered trademark protected in China is calculated from the date of international registration or a later designated date. Before the expiration of the validity period, the registrant can apply to the International Bureau for renewal. If the registrant does not apply for renewal within the validity period, he or she may be given a 6-month suspension. Extension period. When transferring an internationally registered trademark, the transferee should comply with the provisions of international treaties. At the same time, according to the provisions of the Trademark Law, the transferor should also transfer its identical or similar trademarks on the same or similar goods or services. The regulations on deletion applications mainly involve the requirements that the scope of goods or services after deletion should comply with.

6. In view of the differences between the institutional design and specific provisions of the Madrid System for internationally registered trademarks and the Trademark Law, there are exclusions when applying the Trademark Law and the Implementing Regulations of the Trademark Law to international registration of trademarks. Applicable situations. Applications for territorial extension designated in China are not subject to the review period for domestic applications for registered trademarks, nor are goods division regulations applicable. The provisions of the Trademark Law on the time limit for opposition hearings do not apply to the Trademark Office’s review of opposed international registered trademarks. The stipulation that when a trademark registrant changes the name or address of the registrant, all registered trademarks must be changed together, and the stipulation that trademark transfer must be applied for and handled by the transferor and the transferee at the same time, do not apply to changes in international registration of trademarks, Transfer matters.