Nowadays, more and more companies are beginning to register English trademarks, which not only looks high-end, but also facilitates internationalization. It is not easy to come up with an English name that perfectly matches your business. So, when we apply for an English trademark, how can we avoid similar trademarks to others? What are the limits for judging whether it constitutes an English trademark? Next, the editor of Bajie Intellectual Property Trademark Transfer Network will explain it to you. Follow Bajie Intellectual Property Trademark Transfer Network, more information about trademarks is waiting for you!

How to determine whether it constitutes a "similar trademark" in English?

1. Examination standards for meaningless English trademarks

Two meaningless English trademarks with different initial letters are generally judged to be non-similar trademarks.

1. The first letter is the same, and the other letters are changed in order.

For an English trademark composed of three different letters, the first letter is the same, and the other letters are changed in order, 20%-30% of the examiners will Determined to be approximate. For example:

"SOM" and "SMO"

If it is four letters, the probability of being judged to be similar will increase. About 40% of the examiners will judge that it is similar. , such as:

"SOMI" and "SOIM"

Five or more letters. This type of difference will generally be determined as similar trademarks.

2. Transform a letter with similar glyphs

Letters with similar glyphs include: C and G, O and Q, I and L, etc.

Three letters in English, only one letter is different, and the glyphs are similar. If it occurs in the first letter, 80% of the reviewers judge that it is not similar. If it occurs in the last two letters, depending on the similarity of expressions, it may be determined to be a similar trademark. For example:

"CTI" and "GTI"

(generally judged as not similar)

"CTI" and "CTL"

(Generally judged to be not approximate)

"cti" and "ctl"

( The third letter of the latter is the lowercase "L")

(generally judged to be similar)

It can be seen that the expression form of the trademark has a crucial impact on the conclusion of the trademark examination .

3. Add a letter

If a different letter is added to the three-letter English, 80% of the examiners will determine that it is not similar. If a repeated letter is added, 80% of reviewers will judge it as approximate. For example:

"SOM" and "SOMS"

(generally judged to be not similar)

"SOM" and "SOOM"

(generally judged as approximate)

If an "S" is added at the end or a repeated letter is added to the meaningless English composed of four or more letters, 80% of the examiners will judge it to be approximate.

The more English letters there are, the more different letters a similar trademark can accommodate. In specific cases, the examiner will make a subjective judgment within the scope of the standard based on the overall difference in English. For example:

"CAROLFLEX" and "CARPOFLEX"

In this example, the fourth and fifth letters of the two trademarks are different, but because there are more letters, The overall look is not much different, so the two trademarks are similar.

2. Review standards for meaningful English

English review must first see whether it has meaning. If it has meaning, its Chinese translation must also be reviewed. If there are multiple meanings, the common meaning will be reviewed first, and the first meaning in Kingsoft PowerWord Translation will be reviewed at the same time.

1. Two words that both have meanings in English, but have different meanings in Chinese and have little difference in letters, or have the same meaning in Chinese but have very different letters, will generally be judged by examiners as not similar. For example:

"HORSE" (horse) and "HOUSE" (house)

(There is only one letter difference, but the meaning is very different, and it is generally determined that they are not similar trademarks)

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"Eagle" and "HAWK"

(both translated as "Eagle")

2. Determination between English plurals, different tenses, and different parts of speech are similar trademarks. This is easier to understand, so no examples will be given.

3. A combination trademark in English, where part of it has meaning but the whole has no meaning, is regarded as meaningless English and does not require translation.

4. Review criteria for combining several meaningful English words into one English word.

If you combine several meaningful English words and exchange the order, more than 80% of examiners will determine it to be a similar trademark. Because the English search algorithm set by the Trademark Office does not ignore spaces, that is to say, when searching in English, adding or subtracting spaces will result in different search results. Therefore, when searching for this type of English trademark, you should add spaces and search multiple times. Taking "hawkwolf" as an example, you should search for the Chinese character "hawkwolf" and the English "hawkwolf" and "hawkwolf".

If the Chinese meaning of several meaningful English words combined is not a commonly used phrase, and there is no obvious difference overall, it will generally be determined to be a similar trademark.

Although they all have meanings, the Chinese meanings are not commonly used phrases and are a blunt patchwork that can easily confuse consumers, so they are determined to be similar trademarks. If the two trademarks are slightly changed and a space is added, they become two phrases, and 60% of the examiners will determine that they are not similar.

The above is the relevant information on "How to judge whether it constitutes a "similar trademark" in English?" We desire a good industrial ecology more than anyone else, and protecting intellectual property rights is the key to a good industrial ecology. Foundation and guarantee. While cracking down hard on piracy, protecting and supporting originality is the lifeline of our development. When encountering trademark infringement, don’t worry, be brave enough to take up legal weapons to protect your trademark rights! For more information about trademark infringement, please visit the official website of our Bajie Intellectual Property Trademark Transfer Network.