Private copying of patented trademarks and logos for private use is not allowed. In recent years, as the country attaches great importance to the protection of intellectual property rights, companies have become increasingly aware of the protection of intellectual property rights. For companies, in addition to their own brands, another problem they often encounter is how to protect their carefully designed company LOGO to the greatest extent.
According to the current intellectual property laws and regulations system, corporate LOGOs can usually be protected from three aspects: trademark registration, art copyright registration, and design patents. The following briefly discusses the protection of intellectual property rights from these three aspects.
1. Registered graphic trademarks
Article 8 of the current Trademark Law stipulates: “Any sign that can distinguish the goods of a natural person, legal person or other organization from the goods of others, Including words, graphics, letters, numbers, three-dimensional logos, color combinations and sounds, as well as combinations of the above elements, can be applied for registration as trademarks."
It can be seen that LOGO can be protected through graphic trademarks, which is also the case. The most common route of protection. LOGO is defined in Oxford Dictionary as a specially designed logo or logo, which is one of the brand symbols of an enterprise. As a trademark, LOGO has the characteristics of being easy to recognize and remember. It is not limited by language, is visually intuitive, artistic, and full of appeal. , in countries and regions of any language, people will understand the meaning of the trademark as long as they understand the graphics. However, during the use of graphic trademarks, the disadvantage is that it is inconvenient to call them, and they still need to be combined with the brand name to make them known to everyone. For example, when everyone mentions a series of meaningful graphics "Penguin", "Biteful Apple", "Amiable Old Man's Smiling Face" and "Green Mermaid", they will naturally think of these as Tencent, Apple, KFC and Starbucks. Graphic LOGO.
Graphic trademarks can reflect the culture and vision of a company, but as a prerequisite for authorization, they need to be distinctive. The distinctiveness of a trademark is also called the distinctiveness or identification of a trademark, that is, the characteristics that can play a distinguishing role. Once a graphic trademark is successfully registered, it will be protected by exclusive rights, and the protection period is ten years. Upon expiration, you can pay a fee to the Trademark Office for renewal for another ten years. As long as the enterprise needs to use the trademark, there is no limit on the number of renewals.
2. Registration of Fine Arts Works
Article 4 of the current "Regulations for the Implementation of the Copyright Law" stipulates: "Fine arts works refer to paintings, calligraphy, sculptures, etc. that are represented by lines, colors or other methods." A two-dimensional or three-dimensional plastic art work with aesthetic significance."
In October 2002, the Supreme People's Court issued the "Interpretation on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Laws in the Trial of Copyright Civil Disputes", the Interpretation No. Article 7 stipulates: “The copyright registration certificate provided by the party concerned may be used as evidence,” which further clarifies the validity of the copyright registration certificate.
LOGO graphics, as works of art, can be protected by copyright law from the moment they are independently created. In order to further determine the ownership rights of works, rights holders can register with the Copyright Center through voluntary registration and obtain a copyright registration certificate for art works. Copyright protects the originality of the work, and the rights to the work have a protection period of up to fifty years. There is no fee in the later period, but it cannot be extended upon expiration.
3. Application for design
Article 2 of the current "Patent Law" stipulates: "Design refers to the shape, pattern or combination of the product, as well as the color and shape, pattern A new design that is aesthetically pleasing and suitable for industrial application is a combination of the above. ”
If the company’s LOGO is used on the product, and the overall appearance of the product is novel, you can apply for a design patent. Protect. The protection period of a design patent is ten years, and an annual fee must be paid to the national office every year until the expiration of the period, which cannot be extended. However, it should be noted that the patent does not protect the LOGO itself, but the overall shape and pattern design of the product containing the LOGO.
The above three protection approaches each have different emphases. Trademarks are the legal basis for brand protection. The advantage is that rights protection and protection are stronger. The disadvantage is that since trademarks are subject to substantive examination, authorization is relatively difficult. Moreover, trademarks are protected by category. According to the International Nice Classification Standard, *** is divided into There are 45 major categories. If we register only one of the categories, such as category 25 clothing, shoes and hats, then the trademark will only be protected on clothing, shoes and hats.
The advantage of copyright is that it has a registration system, and it will be authorized after application, and it is not divided into categories, but the rights protection system is relatively weak. As for design patents, authorization is moderately difficult, but is limited to the product being applied for.
In general, the three rights of trademark, copyright and patent are interrelated and interdependent. Trademarks focus on brand promotion, copyrights protect the originality of works, and patents focus on innovative designs of products. Enterprises can selectively apply for or apply for intellectual property protection in different ways according to their needs.