Well-known trademarks can resist malicious cybersquatting by others;
Other companies may not register the well-known trademark as a domain name;
Other companies may not register the well-known trademark as the company name;
Increase the brand gold content, appreciate the intangible assets of enterprises, expand the visibility of enterprises and enhance the market competitiveness of enterprises;
On this basis, enterprises can formulate trademark intellectual property strategies, such as the transfer and licensing of trademarks applied by non-owners, and get a lot of benefits from trademark licensing and transfer;
Improve the recognition of enterprises by the government and the public, increase the intensity of infringement and counterfeiting, and get more preferential treatment and support in other fields such as investment and credit;
In the case of cybersquatting or infringement abroad, the identification of well-known trademarks is undoubtedly a decisive chip. An enterprise may apply to the relevant competent authorities for revocation or protection. As far as the law is concerned, well-known trademarks are not protected by all categories, but only by different levels of cross-category protection, that is to say, according to the well-known degree of well-known trademarks, they can get different levels of cross-category protection. For example, Haier, because of its high popularity, covers almost all categories in cross-category protection, but some well-known trademarks with low popularity will not be protected in some categories that will not mislead the public. For example, an unknown brand lighter, even a well-known trademark, cannot prohibit others from calling brand cars.
In practice, well-known trademarks recognized by the State Administration for Industry and Commerce have received a lot of cross-class protection. For example, the Trademark Office examines the application for trademark registration, and the industrial and commercial department examines the application for enterprise name, which generally takes care of well-known trademarks. That is to say, if the trademarks applied for registration are well-known trademarks that have been copied, imitated or translated by others and are prepared to apply for registration on different or similar goods, the Trademark Office will generally take the initiative to disapprove the registration of these trademarks, and the local industrial and commercial departments will also take the initiative to disapprove them.
However, the well-known trademarks recognized by the judiciary are hard to enjoy such treatment, because the well-known trademarks recognized by intermediate courts in various places have not been uniformly filed and announced in the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, and the Trademark Office and the local industrial and commercial bureaus simply do not know that they are well-known trademarks recognized by the courts, and of course they will not take the initiative to protect them.
When the well-known trademark recognized by the court is infringed by other companies, they can only raise their own objections or disputes, or bring a lawsuit to the court. Foreign companies take his well-known trademark as the company name and can only bring a lawsuit to the court.
Generally speaking, when the well-known trademark recognized by the court is infringed, the enterprise that owns the well-known trademark can only passively defend its rights through litigation, while when the well-known trademark recognized by the State Administration for Industry and Commerce is infringed, it can actively defend its rights through the industrial and commercial departments. The judicial protection of well-known trademarks can be divided into two levels: one is the protection in the registration stage, and the other is the protection in the trademark infringement stage after registration.
Article 13 of the Trademark Law stipulates that "a trademark applied for registration on the same or similar goods is a well-known trademark copied, imitated or translated by others and not registered in China. If it is easy to cause confusion, it shall not be registered and prohibited from being used." Where a trademark applied for registration on different commodities or similar commodities is a well-known trademark registered by others in China, misleading the public and possibly harming the interests of the registrant of the well-known trademark, it shall not be registered and its use shall be prohibited.
The protection stipulated in Article 13 of the Trademark Law refers to the protection of unregistered well-known trademarks at the registration stage. Infringement of a well-known trademark that has not been registered in China by others (this kind of infringement refers to the situation that constitutes the elements stipulated in Article 13 of the Trademark Law) may request that it not be registered and prohibited from being used.
In the judicial interpretation of the Supreme Court, the first paragraph of Article 13 stipulates that it shall bear civil legal responsibility for stopping the infringement. Non-registration, prohibition and cessation of use stipulated by laws and judicial interpretations are relief measures for rights.
China, like most countries, implements the system of trademark registration and protection. If you want to enjoy the exclusive right to use a trademark, you must register it. Therefore, well-known trademarks must be registered to obtain the exclusive right to use trademarks and enjoy the above-mentioned second-level protection.
At the same time, the second paragraph of Article 1 of the Judicial Interpretation of Trademark Law of the Supreme Court stipulates various civil liabilities for cross-category infringement of registered well-known trademarks. These are all provisions to strengthen the protection of well-known trademarks.
In order to strengthen the judicial protection of well-known trademarks and need cross-category protection, well-known trademarks should be recognized first. According to the provisions of judicial interpretation, the people's court may, according to the request of the parties and the specific circumstances of the case, determine whether the registered trademark involved is well-known according to law.
The conditions to be met are: 1, the request of the parties; 2, the specific circumstances of the case. The specific circumstances of the case include two situations stipulated by judicial interpretation. One is cross-category protection; The second is for commercial purposes, without using domain names to register other people's well-known trademarks.
When trying trademark disputes, the people's court shall identify well-known trademarks in accordance with the provisions of Article 14 of the Trademark Law.
Article 14 The following factors shall be taken into account when identifying well-known trademarks:
(a) the public's awareness of the trademark;
(2) the term of use of the trademark;
(3) the duration, degree and geographical scope of any publicity work of the trademark;
(4) The record that the trademark is protected as a well-known trademark;
(5) Other factors that make the trademark famous.
According to the provisions of judicial interpretation, if one party requests protection for a well-known trademark that has been recognized by an administrative organ or a people's court, and the other party has no objection to the well-known trademark involved, the people's court will not examine it. Where an objection is raised, the people's court shall conduct an examination in accordance with the provisions of Article 14 of the Trademark Law.
At present, the Intellectual Property Division of the Supreme Court is summing up the experience of judicial protection of trademarks for many years and refining the specific implementation standards for the identification of these elements.