A New OTC company that we have served filed a trademark registration application with the Trademark Office. The company began using the trademark and did extensive advertising. Unexpectedly, one year later, the company received a "Notice of Trademark Rejection" from the Trademark Office, stating that the trademark they applied for could not be registered.

This trademark violates the relevant provisions of the Trademark Law, and it is difficult to pass the review. In the end, we had to accept the fact that the trademark could not be registered, and all the early promotion efforts and established brand benefits were in vain.

It takes more than a year from application to formal registration of a trademark. If the trademark cannot be registered because it violates the relevant provisions of the Trademark Law, the company’s early investment in promoting the trademark will be wasted, and it is likely to lose good reputation as a result. development opportunities.

2. Be careful with Taobao logos

Nowadays, there are many logo design shops on Taobao. The competition is fierce, which reduces the design cost of enterprises, but enterprises should also pay attention to them. risk. It is best to have a preliminary idea of ??the trademark logo yourself, and at the same time sign a commissioned design contract with the design company. In the contract, it is important to stipulate the copyright ownership of the design plan, the work cannot infringe the copyright of others, legal liability, etc., before formal application. , it is also necessary to conduct a similar search for the logo to reduce the legal risk of trademark rejection.

3. Preventing leakage of confidentiality in trademark application

During the trademark conception stage, confidentiality must be maintained and an honest and reliable trademark agency or law firm must be entrusted. In addition to trademark agencies, the company's internal employees, partners, shareholders, and competitors may rush to register leaked trademarks. Some companies strictly abide by the principle of not publishing without applying, and can only register the trademark after receiving an acceptance notice from the Trademark Office It is a very good practice to carry out trademark publishing.

4. Individual trademark agencies will also disappear

Many people cannot tell the difference between the acceptance notice and the trademark registration certificate. Some agencies also take advantage of this situation to deceive. , describing the acceptance notice as a trademark registration certificate. The situation of forged acceptance notices is even more heinous, as they did not apply at all. Cheating at low prices has also happened on Taobao recently. More than a thousand yuan is a small amount, but it delays the development opportunities of the company. In order to prevent this from happening, in addition to finding a reliable agency as mentioned above, companies can check trademark application information on the website of the Trademark Office. If the acceptance notice is forged, it will definitely not be possible to check online. Arrived.

5. Manage professional managers well and clarify trademark ownership

A New OTC company we serve is a large food company and is run by a well-known professional manager Mr. Chen . The company launched a functional food and used a trademark on the food. The company invested a huge amount of money in advertising this food, which quickly made it a household name and occupied a large market share. Professional managers left the company. During the handover, the company discovered that the trademark of the company's best-selling product was actually registered under Mr. Chen's name.

This is a real case, and the actual development and outcome are far more complicated than what is shown in the article. In this case, we just want to point out that the owner of a company must pay attention to the company's brand, especially the ownership of the trademark. Nowadays, it is more and more common for enterprises to hire professional managers, which is a good phenomenon. However, while the business owner is delegating power, the trademark rights cannot be delegated, and he must personally be responsible for participating in the implementation of sub-licensing. Therefore, enterprises must pay attention to the internal management of intellectual property rights, regularly organize the enterprise's intellectual property rights, discover problems, and solve them in a timely manner. I would like to remind everyone that you can find an intellectual property agency such as Bajie as a long-term consultant to Bajie.

6. The trademark transfer procedure is invalid

We once served a company that was eager to purchase a registered trademark in order to meet the requirements for opening a store on Tmall Mall. They found the trademark seller through their own channels, and finally the two parties settled the deal for 100,000 yuan and completed the trademark transfer procedures. Use this trademark to successfully open a store on Tmall Mall and start publicity and promotion. But soon they received a letter from a lawyer from the original trademark owner, asking them to stop the trademark on the grounds that the trademark had never been transferred. It turns out that the seller is not the real trademark owner at all, and uses forged documents and procedures to commit trademark transfer fraud.

7. Brand franchising to prevent the trademark registration certificate from not being issued for investment

The trademark acceptance notice is the acceptance certificate issued by the Trademark Office to the trademark applicant after the trademark registration application is submitted, and the trademark registration Certificate is not the same thing at all. Replacing the trademark registration certificate with a trademark acceptance notice is very common in brand franchise fraud. In order to prevent being deceived during the brand franchise process, it is recommended that the brand owner obtain a trademark registration certificate as a hard condition when inspecting the brand franchise project. Otherwise, try not to take risks. At the same time, the true strength of the brand owner should be examined and do not listen to the brand owner’s expanded propaganda. , in addition to visiting their designated flagship stores, they also need to conduct on-site inspections of the operations of other franchisees.

8. Legal Risks of Trademarks and Brands in Company Acquisitions

There are many disputes over trademark rights in company acquisitions and mergers. Generally, it is because the true rights of the trademark rights are not investigated before the merger and acquisition. It is a situation where you think you have bought a brand when you buy a company's equity. In fact, the company's trademark is registered in the name of a third party, and the third party is an independent corporate legal person, causing later disputes.

Related reading: The value role of trademarks

Value

Trademarks are intangible assets of an enterprise. There is no fixed determination of the value of a trademark. The value of a trademark as an asset in the investment or business process is the amount of capital contained in the trademark asset. It refers to its capital value, not its honorary or subjective value. Common value judgments are usually determined by the awareness and recognition of the trademark, and are evaluated based on the estimated value that the trademark can bring to the enterprise.

Function

Trademarks protect trademark registrants by ensuring that they have the exclusive right to identify goods or services, or to license others to use them for remuneration.

Broadly speaking, trademarks promote a positive and enterprising spirit around the world by rewarding trademark registrants with recognition and economic benefits. Trademark protection also prevents unscrupulous competitors, such as counterfeiters, from using similar distinctive marks to promote inferior or different products or services. This system enables skilled and enterprising people to produce and sell goods and services under the fairest possible conditions, thereby promoting the development of international trade.

Trademarks are an important part of the product and packaging decoration. A trademark with exquisite design, profound meaning, novelty and outstanding personality can well decorate the product and beautify the packaging, making consumers happy to buy.