Well-known trademarks in China are trademarks recognized as "well-known trademarks" by competent authorities (such as the Trademark Office of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board or the people's court) according to legal procedures. Well-known trademarks are successfully certified, and there will be incentives and preferential tax policies in various places, which is very meaningful. So, what are the steps to apply for a well-known trademark in China? 1. How should an enterprise declare a well-known trademark in China? For an enterprise, "China Famous Trademark" is not only an honor, but also a trademark protection system. Governments all over the world give special protection to "well-known trademarks", and China has also enacted special laws to strengthen the protection of "well-known trademarks", and some local governments even give huge rewards to "well-known trademarks". The protection scope of "well-known trademarks" in China is far greater than that of ordinary registered trademarks, and the protection scope extends to other categories of goods. "Well-known trademark" has not only been widely recognized by consumers, but also become one of the evaluation indicators of consumers' comprehensive strength, product quality and corporate reputation. Second, the way to identify well-known trademarks "well-known trademarks" is the highest honor in the field of trademarks. There are tens of millions of trademarks in China. So far, only 1234 has been recognized as a "well-known trademark" by the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, which is really one in a million (the number of well-known trademarks recognized by intermediate people's courts in various places is not discussed in this article because there is no authoritative statistics at present). Visible, "well-known trademark" has strict requirements, and its application is also very difficult. In China, the application for "well-known trademark" has always been made directly to the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (Trademark Office). There are no clear appraisal standards and specific application procedures, and there is no fixed appraisal method. Sometimes nearly 100 applications are approved in a year, but sometimes none is approved in the whole year. After the promulgation of the Provisions on the Recognition and Protection of Well-known Trademarks in 2003, the ways and means of applying for "well-known trademarks" have undergone fundamental changes. (1) According to the provisions of Articles 4 and 5 of the Provisions on the Recognition and Protection of Well-known Trademarks, there are currently four ways to apply for "well-known trademarks" in China: (1) Trademark objection refers to a trademark that has been preliminarily examined and approved by the Trademark Office. Before obtaining the registered trademark certificate, the Trademark Office will make an announcement first, and anyone can raise reasonable objections during the announcement period. In the process of raising objections, you can put forward that the trademark may constitute infringement of your own trademark, and at the same time you can apply for the recognition of your own trademark as a well-known trademark. (2) Trademark Dispute Identification Trademark dispute refers to the dispute that an enterprise considers that a registered trademark has infringed its own trademark and filed an application for cancellation of the registered trademark with the Trademark Office. In the process of revocation, you can also apply to identify your own trademark as a well-known trademark. (3) If a trademark is identified as counterfeit in trademark case management, the goods using the trademark are very popular. Based on this, if the local industrial and commercial bureau finds that there are acts of counterfeiting the trademark in the process of counterfeiting, it can request the Trademark Office of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce to identify the trademark as a well-known trademark according to the application of the parties concerned. (4) The people's court at or above the intermediate level found that according to Article 22 of the Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Laws in the Trial of Trademark Civil Disputes, "when trying trademark disputes, the people's court can legally determine whether the registered trademark involved is well-known according to the application of the parties and the specific circumstances of the case." (2) Application route evaluation 1. To apply in the Trademark Objection Authority: The Trademark Office of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce. Prerequisites: There must be a trademark that is the same as or similar to the trademark applied for as a "well-known trademark" during the announcement period. Difficulties: The probability that the target trademark can be the object of objection and meet the conditions for applying for "well-known trademark" during the announcement period is very small. If you specifically apply for registration, there are two levels: (1) It is difficult to apply for registration, and there is a great possibility of being rejected directly, so you cannot enter the announcement period. (2) Even if you can enter the announcement period, there will be a waiting process from application to announcement for more than one year or even two or three years. Advantages: relatively direct, with few intermediate links, you can apply directly to the State Trademark Office, and the upfront cost is relatively small. Disadvantages: it is difficult to find the target trademark. Even if the target trademark is found, the other party will work hard after entering the objection stage, and the objection time becomes unpredictable. Re-applying for a qualified target trademark is not practical, it takes a long time, and there are still many unknown factors that cannot be grasped. Such "well-known trademarks" are found every year. It should be noted that to apply for trademark objection, in addition to submitting the application, making demands and listing the reasons for objection, a trademark objection fee of 1 1,000 yuan is also required for each piece. At present, this method takes about one and a half to two years. 2. Applicant in trademark dispute: Trademark Review and Adjudication Board of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce. Prerequisites: There must be a registered trademark that is the same as or similar to the well-known trademark applied for, and as far as possible, within the five-year dispute period. Difficulties: As mentioned above, the target trademark is hard to find. If it takes longer to reapply than the first method, it will take at least two years to submit an application for recognition of "well-known trademark". Advantages and disadvantages: same as the first method. Well-known trademarks identified in this way exist every year. It should be noted that to apply for a trademark dispute, in addition to submitting an application, making a claim and listing the reasons for the dispute, each piece also needs a trademark dispute fee of 1500 yuan. At present, this method takes about one and a half to two years. 3. In the management of trademark cases, the applicant: the municipal and provincial local industrial and commercial bureaus shall report to the Trademark Office of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce for confirmation. Advantages: Compared with the above two schemes, this scheme is the most convenient, and it does not need to rely on any existing announced trademarks or registered trademarks, but it is necessary to objectively exist trademark infringement cases, and the goods used for infringing trademarks must be different from those used for applying for trademarks. Relatively speaking, in this way, enterprises can control themselves and design their own schemes in a relatively short time. At present, this method usually takes about one year to one and a half years. Disadvantages: There are many industrial and commercial organizations involved and many intermediate links, which require good planning and operation. Because of the phenomenon of goose plucking, the cost will be relatively large. It is common to identify "well-known trademarks" in this way. At present, this method is the main way to apply for well-known trademarks. 4. The court determines the applicant: The problem of the people's court at or above the intermediate level is that the way the court determines well-known trademarks is different from that of the industrial and commercial bureau, which is another recognition system. Well-known trademarks recognized by the court do not need to be re-recognized or certified by the State Administration for Industry and Commerce. The court found that well-known trademarks can only be identified in domain name infringement and trademark infringement litigation cases. Advantages: it takes a short time, usually six months to one year. Due to the different quality of judges in local courts, local courts have a loose grasp of the conditions stipulated by law, and enterprises with poor conditions like to identify well-known trademarks in this way. Disadvantages: (1) It is more and more difficult for the court to identify well-known trademarks because the public doubts that the conditions for the court to identify well-known trademarks are too loose. Before the general judgment, it needs to be reported to the Provincial High Court for review, and after the judgment takes effect, it needs to be reported to the Supreme Court for the record; (2) At present, some courts charge high fees for well-known trademark cases publicly, and even some judges charge fees privately, which leads to an upward trend in the cost of this identification method; (3) In recent years, the popularity of well-known trademarks recognized by the courts is relatively rampant, and the popularity of well-known trademarks recognized by some courts is too low. In addition, the phenomenon of counterfeiting by individual applicants is serious, which leads to the decline of the credibility of well-known trademarks recognized by the court in the public; (4) Due to the tradition of official standard in China, some enterprises and the public think that the well-known trademarks recognized by the Intermediate People's Court have no authority recognized by the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, and some excellent enterprises disdain to recognize well-known trademarks in this way; (5) Some local governments do not award or reward half of the well-known trademarks recognized by the courts; (6) Some local industrial and commercial departments do not attach importance to the protection of well-known trademarks recognized by the court. This way of identifying "well-known trademarks" is very common, especially for enterprises with poor conditions. Advice to enterprises: Only by understanding the advantages and disadvantages of the above application channels and various channels can enterprises decide which application form to adopt. If the enterprise has professionals in this field, you can apply for it yourself. If there are no professionals in this field, it is suggested that enterprises should take the form of principal-agent and entrust intellectual property agencies, trademark offices, law firms, advertising companies and other institutions with well-known trademark declaration expertise to act as agents. 3. What kind of trademark is expected to be recognized as a well-known trademark in China? According to the provisions of Article 14 of the Trademark Law, combined with our experience in assisting outstanding enterprises to declare and identify well-known trademarks in China, we believe that enterprises that basically meet the following minimum requirements can try to declare and identify well-known trademarks in China. Of course, this is not a national standard, and the data requirements of each industry will be different, so this article is only for the reference of enterprises. 1. There are specific trademark infringement cases or disputed trademarks. This article is the key to start the application process. 2. Except in special circumstances, the registered capital of the enterprise holding the trademark should generally be no less than 65.438+million yuan, and the total assets should generally be more than 500 million yuan. 3, trademark registration and use time should be more than 3 years, the use of a shorter time is difficult to identify. But if it is an unregistered trademark, it can also be well-known, such as Little Sheep, Super Girl and Mengniu Yogurt. 4. If the trademark is a provincial famous trademark, the enterprise will get more national and provincial honors and occupy a huge advantage. 5. The existing value of the trademark should be more than100000 yuan according to the evaluation of relevant institutions. 6. The output value of commodities used by trademark owner enterprises in the past three years should be more than 300 million yuan per year, and the sales revenue should be more than 300 million yuan per year in principle, and the market share ranks among the top 20 in the same industry in China. 7. The annual tax paid by the trademark owner enterprise in the past three years should generally be above100000 yuan. 8. The product market is not limited to the local market. Products are sold to at least half of the provinces and cities in China, and it is best to have a nationwide sales network. It is better to sell the products abroad. In other words, the sales area of goods using the trademark should cover the main areas of the country. 9. Trademarks should be publicized through various channels in an all-round and uninterrupted manner. The advertising expenses of provincial and central media in the past three years should be no less than 5 million yuan per year. Publicity includes media advertisements, promotional activities, outdoor advertisements, trade fairs, etc. (According to different product requirements, this article is different. Mass products need more advertisements, while intermediate products need less advertisements. ) 10. It is best for an enterprise to be the governing unit of a national trade association or chamber of commerce. 1 1. Enterprises are the makers of industry standards, and the participants are the best. 12, the main products of the enterprise won the title of China famous brand best product. 13, the main products of the enterprise won the title of national inspection-free best product. 14, it doesn't matter if the enterprise is small, but the industry ranking is the key. Because enterprises in some industries are small. 15, large enterprises may not meet the requirements, because perhaps all enterprises in this industry are large enterprises. To sum up, successfully applying for a well-known trademark in China not only has brand distinctiveness and high popularity, but also has incentives and preferential tax policies in various places, which is very commendable. If there are professionals in this field, you can apply for it yourself. If not, it is better to adopt the way of principal-agent and operate professionally, which makes it easier to apply successfully.