A trademark is a mark used to distinguish one operator's brand or service from other operators' goods or services.

according to China's trademark law, trademarks registered with the approval of the Trademark Office, including commodity trademarks, service trademarks, collective trademarks and certification trademarks, are protected by law. If they are well-known trademarks, they will be protected by cross-category laws.

trademarks protect trademark registrants by ensuring that they have the exclusive right to indicate the source of goods or services or to license others to use them for remuneration.

in a broad sense, trademarks can promote the positive and enterprising spirit of the whole world by rewarding trademark registrants, enabling them to gain recognition and economic benefits.

trademark protection can also prevent unfair 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 as fair a condition as possible, thus promoting the development of international trade.

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

Extended information:

How to judge whether a registered trademark is deceptive? Recently, the dispute between Zhejiang Tapai Shaoxing Liquor Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Tapai Company) and COFCO Great Wall Liquor Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as COFCO Liquor Company) once again sounded the alarm of "deceptive trademark" for trademark applicants.

Recently, the dispute between the two sides has made new progress. According to the final judgment made by the Beijing Higher People's Court, the court found that the trademark No.1895337 "Pagoda Handmade Winter Brewed PAGODABRANDDONGNIANG and its Map" (hereinafter referred to as the disputed trademark) was used on other approved commodities except yellow wine, which easily caused the relevant public to misunderstand the characteristics of the production process, processing method and production time, and its use on 35 kinds of commodities such as rice wine, sake and yellow wine was deceptive.

at this point, the dispute between the two parties came to an end temporarily, and the ruling of the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board (hereinafter referred to as the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board) to declare the disputed trademark invalid was finally revoked, and it was ordered to make a new ruling against the request for invalidation filed by COFCO Liquor Company.

The registered trademark encounters the crisis of invalidation

The reporter learned that Tapai Company was incorporated in January 1995 and was recognized as a traditional handmade Shaoxing yellow wine brewing demonstration base in October 213.

The trademark in dispute was applied for registration by Tapai Company to the Trademark Office on May 1, 212, and was approved for registration through objection procedure. On August 14, 213, it was approved to be used on 33 kinds of goods such as fruit wine (containing alcohol), wine, alcoholic beverages (except beer), rice wine, sake, yellow wine, cooking wine and shochu.

On February 2, 216, COFCO Liquor Company filed a request for invalidation of the disputed trademark with the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board, claiming that the use of the disputed trademark on alcoholic products is a direct description of the production technology, processing methods and quality of the product, and lacks the obvious characteristics of the trademark.

At the same time, the series of "hand-brewed" trademarks were originally created by COFCO Liquor Company, and they have the right of prior use. The disputed trademarks are similar to the well-known series of trademarks such as "hand-brewed" and "Huangzhonghuang hand-brewed", which is a cybersquatting of their trademarks and damages their prior use rights.

In addition, the registration of disputed trademarks is deceptive, which easily leads the public to misunderstand the quality of goods and other characteristics. The registration of disputed trademarks will disrupt the market order and cause adverse social impact.

It is reported that TAP Company did not reply to the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board within the statutory time limit.

On October 28th, 216, the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board made a ruling on the request for invalidation, arguing that the disputed trademark as a whole did not directly indicate the characteristics of the production technology and processing methods of the approved goods, nor did it belong to a sign harmful to socialist morality or other adverse effects.

COFCO Liquor Company has no evidence that it uses "hand-brewed" as a trademark alone, and there are obvious differences between the disputed trademark and the well-known "Huangzhonghuang Hand-brewed" series of trademarks advocated by COFCO Liquor Company in terms of calling and appearance. Tapai Company did not preemptively register the trademarks that COFCO Liquor Company had used and had certain influence.

However, the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board believes that the use of the disputed trademark in the registration of wine, yellow rice wine and other alcoholic commodities is likely to make consumers think that the goods marked by it are hand-brewed in winter, and thus lead to misunderstanding of the production technology, processing methods, production time and other characteristics of the goods approved for use by the disputed trademark. To sum up, the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board ruled that the disputed trademark should be declared invalid.

Tapai Company refused to accept the ruling made by the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board, and then filed an administrative lawsuit with the Beijing Intellectual Property Court, and submitted to the court the inspection report of Tapai handmade winter brewing, the technical introduction of Tapai handmade winter brewing, the honor obtained by Tapai handmade winter brewing yellow wine, and so on. Based on this, it claimed that the company's "handmade winter brewing" products were brewed by manual brewing technology at low temperature in winter and were "handmade winter brewing".

Whether it is deceptive or not can be clarified

The Beijing Intellectual Property Court held that "hand-made winter brewing" is a processing technology and method of alcoholic commodities, which means "hand-made winter brewing". The evidence submitted by Tapai Company can prove that the yellow wine it produced was made by hand, and the description of the disputed trademark neither deviates from the inherent characteristics of the commodity nor does not conform to the facts, so the disputed trademark is not deceptive.

at the same time, the "tower brand and picture" in the disputed trademark is not directly related to the goods approved for use by the disputed trademark, and it has strong distinctiveness. Although "hand-brewing in winter" is a processing technology and method of alcoholic goods, the relevant public recognizes the trademark through the whole trademark. In the case that the "tower brand and picture" has strong distinctiveness, the disputed trademark should not be considered as not having obvious characteristics.

To sum up, the Beijing Intellectual Property Court ruled in the first instance to revoke the ruling made by the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board and ordered it to make a new ruling.

The Trademark Review and Adjudication Board refused to accept the judgment of the first instance and appealed to the Beijing Higher People's Court, claiming that "hand-made winter brewing" is a processing technology, which is used to describe the manufacturing technology and processing methods of designated goods. The Chinese character combination "Hand-made Winter Brewing" in the disputed trademark is relatively independent in the logo, which is a significant part of its recognition.

The approved use of disputed trademarks on alcoholic commodities such as wine and soju is likely to cause the relevant public to misunderstand the characteristics of the production process of the goods approved for use with disputed trademarks.

the Beijing higher people's court held through trial that the disputed trademark was composed of Chinese "tower brand" and "handmade winter village", English "PAGODABRANDDONGNIANG" and graphics, and both "tower brand" and "handmade winter village" belonged to the distinctive identification parts of the disputed trademark.

Although "hand-made winter brewing" is a kind of processing technology and method of yellow rice wine, the evidence on file is not enough to determine that the disputed trademark is used in yellow rice wine, which may easily lead the relevant public to misunderstand the production technology, processing methods, production time and other characteristics of the goods.

However, the use of disputed trademarks on other approved commodities such as wine, rice wine and shochu is likely to mislead the relevant public about the characteristics of the production technology, processing methods and production time of the relevant commodities, and the use of disputed trademarks on the above commodities is deceptive.

To sum up, the Beijing Higher People's Court rejected the appeal of the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board in the final instance and upheld the judgment of the first instance. (Wang Guohao) Baidu Encyclopedia-Trademark People's Network-How to judge whether a registered trademark is deceptive?