Criteria for judging the similarity of trademarks (official explanation) I. Examination of word mark (I) A Chinese trademark is judged as an approximate trademark if its Chinese characters are the same, but the font or design, phonetic notation and arrangement order are different, which may easily mislead the relevant public about the source of goods or services. (2) Where a trademark consists of the same foreign language, letters or numbers, but only the font or design is different, which may easily mislead the relevant public about the source of goods or services, it shall be judged as an approximate trademark. Except for one of the following circumstances: 1. A trademark is composed of one or two foreign letters with unusual fonts, which have no meaning and obviously different glyphs, which makes the overall difference of the trademark obvious and makes it difficult for the relevant public to misunderstand the source of goods or services. 2. A trademark is composed of three or more letters in foreign languages, with different orders, obviously different pronunciations or glyphs, no meaning or different meanings, which makes the overall difference of the trademark obvious and makes it difficult for the relevant public to misunderstand the source of the goods or services. (3) Where a trademark consists of two foreign words, but the word order is different, and there is no obvious difference in meaning, which is likely to mislead the relevant public about the source of goods or services, it is judged as an approximate trademark. (4) Where a Chinese trademark consists of three or more Chinese characters, and only a few Chinese characters are different, and the whole has no meaning or no obvious difference in meaning, it is easy for the relevant public to misunderstand the source of the goods or services, and it is judged as an approximate trademark. However, the pronunciation or font of the first word is obviously different, or the overall meaning is different, which makes the overall difference of the trademark obvious and makes it difficult for the relevant public to misunderstand the source of the goods or services. (5) Where a foreign-language trademark consists of four or more letters, only a few letters are different, and the whole has no meaning or no obvious difference in meaning, which may easily mislead the relevant public about the source of goods or services, it shall be judged as an approximate trademark. However, the pronunciation and font of the first letter are obviously different, or the overall meaning is different, which makes the overall difference of trademarks obvious and makes it difficult for the relevant public to misunderstand the source of goods or services. (6) A trademark is judged to be an approximate trademark if its characters and glyphs are similar, which may easily mislead the relevant public about the source of goods or services. (7) A trademark is judged to be an approximate trademark if its pronunciation is the same or similar, and its font or overall appearance are similar, which may easily mislead the relevant public about the source of the goods or services. However, there are obvious differences in meaning, font or overall appearance, except that it is not easy for the relevant public to misunderstand the source of goods or services. (8) Where the words of a trademark have the same or similar meanings, which may easily mislead the relevant public about the source of the goods or services, it shall be judged as an approximate trademark. (9) Where the words of a trademark are formed by overlapping words, and it is easy for the relevant public to misunderstand the source of goods or services, it shall be judged as an approximate trademark. (1) A foreign-language trademark is judged to be an approximate trademark if it only changes in form, such as singular and plural, gerund, abbreviation, added article, comparative or superlative, and part of speech, but the meanings expressed are basically the same, which is likely to mislead the relevant public about the source of goods or services. (11) A trademark is an approximate trademark if the common name and model of the commodity are added to other people's prior trademarks, which may easily mislead the relevant public about the source of the commodity or service. (12) A trademark is a similar trademark if some words indicating the place where goods are produced, sold or used are added to other people's prior trademarks, which may easily mislead the relevant public about the source of goods or services. (13) A trademark is a word that directly indicates the quality, main raw materials, functions, uses, weight, quantity and other characteristics of the goods in other people's prior trademarks, which may easily mislead the relevant public about the source of the goods or services, and is judged as an approximate trademark. (14) A trademark is an adjective or adverb that plays a modifying role and other words that are less prominent in the trademark. The meanings expressed are basically the same, and it is easy for the relevant public to misunderstand the source of goods or services. It is judged as an approximate trademark. But the meaning or overall difference is obvious, except that it is not easy for the relevant public to misunderstand the source of goods or services. (15) Where two trademarks or one of them consists of two or more relatively independent parts, and significant parts of them are similar, which may easily mislead the relevant public about the source of goods or services, it shall be judged as similar trademarks. However, the overall meaning is obviously different, except that it is not easy for the relevant public to misunderstand the source of goods or services. (16) Where a trademark completely contains word mark, which has a certain popularity or strong distinctiveness in advance, and it is easy for the relevant public to think that it belongs to a series of trademarks and misunderstand the source of goods or services, it is judged as an approximate trademark. Ii. Examination of Graphic Trademarks (1) Where the graphic composition of a trademark is similar to the overall appearance, and it is easy for the relevant public to misunderstand the source of goods or services, it is judged as an approximate trademark. (2) Where a trademark completely contains a graphic trademark that others have a certain popularity or strong distinctiveness in advance, and it is easy for the relevant public to think that it belongs to a series of trademarks and misunderstand the source of goods or services, it is judged as an approximate trademark. Iii. Examination of combined trademarks (1) Where the Chinese characters of a trademark are identical or similar, and it is easy for the relevant public to misunderstand the source of goods or services, it is judged as an approximate trademark. (2) Where the foreign language, letters and figures of a trademark are identical or similar, which may easily mislead the relevant public about the source of the goods or services, it shall be judged as an approximate trademark. However, the overall call, meaning or appearance are obviously different, and it is not easy for the relevant public to misunderstand the source of goods or services. (3) Where the main meanings of different languages and characters in a trademark are the same or basically the same, and it is easy for the relevant public to misunderstand the source of goods or services, it shall be judged as an approximate trademark. However, the overall composition, call or appearance are obviously different, except that it is not easy for the relevant public to misunderstand the source of goods or services. (4) Where the graphic parts of a trademark are similar, and it is easy for the relevant public to misunderstand the source of goods or services, it shall be judged as an approximate trademark. However, because the graphics are commonly used in this commodity, or they mainly play a decorative and background role, the distinctiveness in the trademark is weak, and the overall meaning, call or appearance of the trademark are obviously different, which makes it difficult for the relevant public to misunderstand the source of the commodity or service. (5) Where the words and graphics of a trademark are different, but the arrangement and combination methods or the things described as a whole are basically the same, so that the overall appearance or meaning of the trademark is similar, and it is easy for the relevant public to misunderstand the source of the goods or services, it is judged as an approximate trademark.