Sub-trademarks are trademarks derived from corporate brand architecture and brand planning, and are more for the purpose of expressing business information.
In traditional trademark law theory, trademarks are signs that distinguish the source of goods. However, in practice, we have noticed that some companies have applied for hundreds of trademarks. Among these trademarks, the real or main function of distinguishing the source of goods is the company's main trademark or the main product trademark. In addition, most of the trademarks are defensive trademarks and sub-trademarks. Defensive trademarks are strategic registrations around the main trademark, including joint trademarks and defensive trademarks, with the purpose of maximizing the monopoly trademark symbol. The sub-trademark is a trademark derived from corporate brand architecture and brand planning, and is more for the purpose of expressing business information.
1. What is a sub-trademark?
As the name suggests, a sub-trademark exists relative to the main trademark. Primary and secondary trademarks are a trademark classification based on the primary and secondary status of the trademark, that is, multiple trademarks are used on one product. Among them, the main trademark plays the role of distinguishing the source of goods and commending the quality of goods, and plays the main role of highlighting the corporate brand; the sub-trademark plays the role of expressing the use, function, specification, ingredients, technology and other information characteristics of specific goods, and plays the role of Advertising and promotion and other secondary functions. The generation and application of primary and secondary trademarks originate from the primary and secondary brand strategies in brand strategy.
The main and sub-brand strategy means that when an enterprise produces a variety of goods, it gives all its goods a unified brand (main trademark) and then assigns another one based on the different characteristics of each product. Name (sub-trademark). For example, Gree air conditioners use the main trademark "Gree" on all its products. They also use sub-brands such as "Calm King" and "Almighty King" based on the performance of the products and many other features. From the perspective of brand marketing, the use of sub-brands (sub-trademarks) can effectively improve the unchanging market positioning and consumer impression of the main brand (main trademark), give the main brand a sense of youth and growth, and enhance various reputation indicators of the main brand, such as : Affinity, technical sense, high-end sense, modern sense, fashion sense, etc.
It should be noted that there is also a multi-brand strategy, which is similar to the main and sub-brand strategy. It uses multiple trademarks on one product at the same time. For example, many products of Apple in the United States are all on When using the Apple graphic trademark, use other trademarks to distinguish different types of products, such as iPad, iPhone, Mac, etc. However, this form is not the use of primary and secondary trademarks. iPad, iPhone, and Mac themselves are the primary trademarks of such products. This form of trademark use is not the content of this article.
2. Types of sub-trademarks
1. According to the use period of the trademark, it is divided into long-term sub-trademarks and short-term sub-trademarks
As mentioned above, sub-trademarks are Advertising and promotion function, therefore, the sub-trademarks that reflect the product characteristics used on the main products that the company needs to operate for a long time will undoubtedly need to be used for a long time; and some products are products that are produced and sold in a specific period of time, such as the use of For short-term products planned for event marketing, once the influence of the event fades, the product will also be withdrawn from the market, and the sub-trademarks it uses that reflect the characteristics of the event will also be abandoned. For example, when the Chinese football team entered the World Cup finals for the first time, the coach of the Chinese football team was called "Fuxing" by the Chinese people. So some companies used "Fuxing" as a sub-trademark on their products for publicity and promotion. When the Chinese football team When the team returned from the World Cup without scoring a goal, the sub-brand was immediately deactivated.
2. According to whether the trademark has been approved for registration, it is divided into registered sub-trademarks and unregistered sub-trademarks.
Corporate brand architecture is the basis for the existence of main and sub-trademarks, but not all brand architecture content can form corresponding registered trademarks. The reason is that the brand name is not named according to the rules of trademark naming. Some sub-brand names, especially secondary sub-brand names, are directly named after product characteristics. For example, "Energy Saving Expert" is used as a sub-trademark on electrical products. Obviously such sub-brand names do not comply with the provisions of my country's "Trademark Law" and are If it cannot become a registered trademark, it can only be treated as an unregistered trademark.
In addition, some short-term and temporary sub-trademarks do not need to be protected by trademark registration due to their short use period.
3. According to the information content expressed by the trademark, it is divided into category trademarks, model trademarks, decorative trademarks, marketing trademarks, technology trademarks, etc.
Category sub-trademarks are used to indicate different types of For example, a certain brand of air conditioners uses different sub-trademarks to distinguish wall-mounted air conditioners and cabinet-type air conditioners; model sub-trademarks are used to indicate products of different specifications and models within the same type of product. For example, a pen-making company uses different sub-trademarks to distinguish between Gel pens indicating different technical specifications; decorative sub-trademarks are used to beautify decorative products. For example, some companies register imaginary blessing terms as sub-trademarks and use them on product packaging; the most famous marketing sub-trademark is probably The "Double Eleven" trademark applied for registration by Alibaba. The significance of this sub-trademark is to protect the marketing creativity of the "Shopping Festival"; the technical trademark indicates or implies the technology, materials, formula and other technical elements used in the product, such as The "Fresh Breath" trademark registered by Supor Electrical Appliances, etc.
3. Legal protection of sub-trademarks
For enterprises that implement the main and sub-trademark strategy, the main purpose of using sub-trademarks is to express specific information about the products. Enterprises generally do not mainly use sub-trademarks. To distinguish the source of goods and commend the quality of goods, the main purpose of registering a sub-trademark is to monopolize the form and content of information expression and prevent competitors from imitating it. However, after long-term use and prominent publicity, some sub-trademarks have acquired the same distinctiveness and recognition as the main trademark, such as Mengniu's sub-brand "Deluxe". Such sub-trademarks will undoubtedly receive stronger legal protection.
However, due to the innate characteristics of sub-trademarks that mainly play the role of information expression, when seeking legal protection, the law often shows a side of weak protection. For example, in the case of Shanghai Saiyi Environmental Protection Equipment Co., Ltd. v. Changzhou Peide Water Treatment Equipment Co., Ltd. in the case of trademark infringement and unfair competition [Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court (2013) Shanghai No. 1 Zhong Min Wu (Zhi) No. 207 Judgment No. 1], the Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People's Court held that the model sub-trademark ?SC? claimed by the plaintiff was not used as a mark to distinguish the source of goods on products, brochures, and advertisements. Its actual use focused on the use in the model sense. This use method affects to a certain extent the function of SC in distinguishing the source of goods in the sense of identification. Furthermore, it cannot be determined that ?SC? can be protected as a unique name of a well-known commodity.
Another example is in the trademark infringement case of Dongguan Huamei Food Co., Ltd. v. Hunan Xiangmei Food Co., Ltd. [Changsha Intermediate People’s Court (2013) Changzhong Minwuchuzi No. 01129 Civil Judgment], The Changsha Intermediate People's Court held that the plaintiff's claimed sub-trademark "Fugui Nian Nian" expresses the meaning of blessing, and the relevant public would easily regard the word as a blessing rather than a mark to identify the source, and the plaintiff did not Provide evidence to prove that the registered trademark "Fugui Nian Nian" has generated sufficient popularity through use, so that when the relevant public sees the logo, relative to the meaning of the words itself, they actually associate the "Fu Gui Nian Nian" logo with its products. Form stronger identifying relationships. It further ruled that Hunan Xiangmei Food Co., Ltd.’s use of the words “Fugui Nian Nian” did not constitute trademark infringement.
It is easy to see from the above cases that in order for a sub-trademark to obtain strong legal protection, it must overcome the defect that a sub-trademark mainly expresses specific information about the goods rather than mainly distinguishing the source of the goods. First of all, when it comes to naming trademarks, the sub-trademark should not directly describe the information content to be expressed, but try to name it with suggestive and fictitious words; secondly, forming a sub-trademark in an enterprise is also the unique identity of the enterprise's trademark, and it must be correctly used in business activities. Use and call sub-trademarks, and avoid using sub-trademarks as product names, model names, or decorations; third, fully demonstrate the trademark attributes of the sub-trademark in the form of trademark use, such as the registration symbol, ? or the trademark symbol TM ?, and even use trademark footnotes to declare rights; finally, actively protect rights.
In the trademark infringement case of Zhuhai Gree Electric Appliances Co., Ltd. v. Guangdong Midea Refrigeration Equipment Co., Ltd. [Civil Judgment No. 1498 of the Intermediate People’s Court of Zhuhai City, Guangdong Province (2013) Zhu Zhong Fa Zhi Min Chu Zi], the person involved in the case? A good harvest? The trademark is a sub-trademark registered by Gree Electric. Through litigation, Gree effectively prevented competitors from using the same words as commercial marks on air-conditioning products, effectively maintaining the correspondence between the sub-trademark and the company and specific products. , clearing the way for improving the visibility and reputation of this sub-trademark.