It costs more than 1, yuan to register a trademark, but it can be sold to tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands or millions of yuan. With such huge profit margin, many individuals and institutions are eager to invest in trademarks. Due to the low operating threshold, trademark trading has mixed professional trademark registrants, trademark agencies, businesses, enterprises, natural persons and many other forces together, forming a chaotic river and lake, and staged a growing battle for trademarks. This group of people always pay attention to the policy orientation and public opinion hotspots, keep an eye on and grab some valuable trademarks, and seek to increase the price and transfer in the future. It is understood that after trademark investors have successfully registered trademarks, some will directly contact the registered enterprises, and as long as the negotiations between the two sides are smooth, they can make profits. If the other party is unwilling to spend money to buy the trademark, the trademark investor may sue the enterprise for infringing its trademark and force it to compromise. Moreover, it is a lawsuit to the court, demanding high compensation. In the eyes of trademark investors, trademarks are their products. However, there is no uniform standard for how to price this product. The whole market is in a disorderly state. Basically, the trademark owner sets the price himself, while the trademark agent is like a real estate agent, and the customer comes to put the offer and help push it out. In this interest chain, some people get rich overnight, some lose everything, and more people are waiting for opportunities. The news that registered trademarks were bought by enterprises at high prices constantly stimulated their nerves and aroused their enthusiasm. In order to further seize and win the market, some trademark investment companies are more determined to study the market. A trademark investment company put forward the slogan "Let customers win at the starting line" and implemented the market segmentation strategy. The relevant person in charge told the reporter that the trademarks they handled were all designed according to market segments. For example, the trademarks of women's wear were divided into intellectual, elegant, humorous and professional categories, and then marketing was implemented. Experts suggest that enterprises should register trademarks at the initial stage, and comprehensively protect trademarks through various legal channels such as domain name, appearance patent and copyright registration to prevent others from malicious cybersquatting. Xiaolong (pseudonym), with low threshold for trademark registration, is a full-time individual who has been engaged in trademark investment for five years. The reporter asked why he chose the trademark investment industry at the beginning, and his answer was:' interested'. At present, Xiaolong's income from trademark investment is about 3, yuan a year. According to his words, although it is also' muddling along', it is' better than working'. According to the relevant regulations of the Trademark Law revised in 21, the current trademark registration adopts the principle of prior application, and natural persons also have the qualification to apply. This provision once led to the intensification of the trademark registration war, and directly gave birth to a group of professional trademark registrants. In order to curb the blind rush to register trademarks, in 27, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce issued "Matters needing attention for natural persons to apply for trademark registration", which restricted the conditions for natural persons to apply for trademark registration, that is, the requirements must be individual industrial and commercial households, individual partnerships, rural contracted households and other natural persons who are allowed to engage in business activities according to law to apply for trademark registration. Although the scope has been narrowed and targeted to a certain extent, this' threshold' has not kept out all those who intend to make profits from trademark registration. As the saying goes, "there are policies at the top and countermeasures at the bottom", many natural persons like Xiaolong began to register their own companies in order to operate their trademarks. I applied to register a company in Hong Kong, which cost less than 3, yuan. All I need is a copy of my ID card and my signature, and it will be done in nine working days.' Xiaolong told reporters. The cost for a natural person to operate a trademark investment through a registered company is not high. Moreover, even if a natural person does not register a company, he can still obtain a registered trademark through an agency, and he only needs to pay an agency fee to the agency. Therefore, according to the statistics of some trademark offices, the number of self-employed individuals applying for registered trademarks has not decreased significantly every year. The reporter learned from the practitioners in the trademark agency market that the trademark agency price of the trademark agency registration agency is not high at present, and the line price is generally below 2 yuan. Some trademark agents will even push the price to 12 yuan in order to grab business. Because there is basically no cost, price often becomes the focus of their competition. The reporter inquired about the quotations of several trademark registration agencies. Mr. Li, the trademark agent, told the reporter:' Customers can decide whether the trademark is in Chinese or English or a combination, and we can help design it here, and the design fee will be paid to 1 yuan until the design is satisfactory. We can also help customers make free inquiries and analyze the probability of successful application in both Chinese and English. " Some trademark agents said that their quotation, including design, was only 18 yuan. However, there is also an agent who is only responsible for agency registration, not design, but the charging standard is still 18 yuan. In addition to trademark agency companies, some businesses engaged in business activities have also started trademark agency business. A staff member of QQ online shopping shop, a brand watch shop in Hong Kong, told reporters that their main business is e-commerce B2C and monopoly in major cities around the country, but they also operate trademark agency business. Some insiders told reporters that this situation is not uncommon. It costs about 2, yuan to register a trademark, but it may appreciate to tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands or millions of yuan when it is changed hands. The huge profit space attracts more and more people to join the ranks of trademark investors. It is better to buy a trademark than to register a trademark. However, if you simply focus on the trademark registration agency business, you can't make much money. The profitable link is the trademark transfer. It is understood that the current process of trademark registration is basically: trademark design, trademark inquiry, materials needed to prepare a registered trademark, registration application (official fee 1 yuan+agency fee), and waiting for successful registration (it will take one and a half years for people in the industry to say that it is fast). According to the relevant regulations, when registering 1 or less commodities, the trademark registration fee will be 1 yuan; After more than 1 kinds, a certain fee will be charged for each part that exceeds. However, whether through professional trademark registrants or trademark agencies, there is no guarantee that trademark registration will be successful. If you design it in a special way and incorporate your own ideas into the trademark, the chances of successful registration will definitely be great.' A trademark agent told the reporter,' The reason why some people fail to register is because there is a risk of blind spots in trademark registration, and the examiner's personal views are different. These are all influencing factors.' The unsuccessful registration mainly depends on the trademark itself, not on who will register it.' Mr. Li said. Mr. Li told reporters:' The blind spot is the data period that we can't find. The data we can find is limited. Now the blind area is getting longer and longer, with eight or nine months. In other words, we can't find the data from September last year to now. During this period, we can't know who is applying and which trademarks are applied for. Only after nine months, can we find it in official website. And if someone is applying for a similar trademark during this period, but others are earlier than you, your application will be rejected. " Any newly applied trademark may have conflicting trademarks. Although this probability will not be high, the probability of applying for a trademark for popular words is high. Some agencies also claimed that the registration was successful. The staff of an agency told the reporter:' There are risks in trademark registration, and there is no guarantee that we will get the certificate. However, only when the probability is high, will we suggest registering the customer. In this case, if the registration is not successful, the fee will not be refunded. However, if the customer wants to apply again, we will only charge the closing fee (that is, the unified registration fee of the Trademark Office) and no agency fee will be charged. " So, is it cost-effective to design a registered trademark yourself or to buy it directly? Because there are many uncontrollable factors in self-registered trademarks, and according to the regulations, the risk of unsuccessful trademark application is borne by the applicant, and it takes a long time, so many people in the industry suggest that it is better to buy a trademark directly if you register a trademark. Mr. Li believes that from the perspective of material benefits, it is definitely cost-effective to design your own application, but it may not be registered. If you buy a trademark directly, it saves time. Generally speaking, it only costs several times or even dozens of times more money, but if you buy it, you can use it directly after completing the transfer procedures. Mr. Feng's view varies from person to person:' It depends. Looking for a trademark to buy, the seller reported 1 thousand yuan, he reported 2 thousand yuan, and even added transfer fees and so on. So it's easy to find someone to buy it, and then pay some fees to the trademark office for help, which will save a lot of trouble. " Trademark investors sit on the ground and ask for a price. It will take at least a year or more to register a new trademark before you know whether it is registered successfully. Even if the registration is successful, it will take time for the new trademark to cultivate the market. It is not difficult and very troublesome for enterprises to build a well-known trademark. Therefore, many people choose to buy some ready-made trademarks from trademark investors, saving time, and they can choose from a large number of trademarks, and the chances of outperforming the market are much greater. " A trademark investment practitioner told reporters that more and more enterprises choose to buy trademarks, and the huge market demand also makes trademark investors wave upon wave. In the eyes of trademark investors, trademarks are their products. However, there is no uniform standard for how to price this product. The whole market is completely out of order. Mr. Li told reporters that it is basically' the price set by the trademark owner himself', and the agent is like a real estate agent,' the customer will put the offer and help push it out'. The reporter saw from a trademark agency (Anqing Dongfang Zhihui Brand Management Co., Ltd.) that they have recently released nearly 1 trademark catalogues, which will indicate the registration number, trademark pattern and scope of use respectively. As for the standard by which the price is set, the trademark agent only said:' according to someone's needs'. Some insiders also told reporters:' The price of a trademark is not necessarily related to the number of letters or the size of graphics, but it may be related to the whole name.' According to the reporter's understanding, according to the current market situation, the trademark of women's shoes generally sells for about 2 thousand yuan. For example, when a reporter sees a trademark with the word' step', people will know that it is a shoe trademark at first sight, and the quotation is around 25, yuan. Mr. Li told reporters that' trademarks generally appear in three forms, Chinese, English and graphics, or in combination, ranging from 5, yuan to 6, yuan, from more than 1, yuan to millions of yuan, while ordinary ones are basically less than 3, yuan, and this kind is more common.' In order to save costs, some customers may put forward a scheme of authorizing the use of the trademark owner, that is, they do not buy out the trademark themselves and do not need a trademark ownership certificate, but negotiate with the trademark owner to enjoy the right to use the trademark for a certain period of time and sign a license contract for the record. However, this seemingly feasible method does not have much maneuverability in the current unregulated trademark market. According to the reporter's understanding, if you sign a two-year license contract for a clothing trademark with a price of 18, yuan, according to the current market quotation, you need to pay the trademark owner a usage fee of 4, yuan for one year and 8, yuan for two years. At this price, it is better to buy it directly. Insiders told reporters that even if the trademark owner permits the use, there are still some risks in such an operation, but once the customer transfers the trademark during the licensed use period, it will be more troublesome. Because the customer has the right to transfer the trademark during the licensing period, unless otherwise agreed by both parties, it can be transferred regardless of whether the licensee agrees or not.' Because trademarks need to go to the notary office for notarization before trading, some trademark investors laugh and say that they are not notarized, but on the road of notarization. It is understood that the notarization fee is generally borne by the seller, and some institutions have pushed this fee to the trademark purchaser. Where does the creativity of trademark investors with high profits come from to register trademarks? Xiaolong told reporters that it is common that some enterprises are already producing and using products, but they have not yet registered them, and then trademark investors register them,' which is also called cybersquatting'. How to find these unregistered trademarks with products? Xiaolong said that it is necessary to' pay attention to observation'. After you take a fancy to it, you can check it on China Trademark Online and register it if you find that the other party is not registered. However, this seemingly simple operation method' can't be learned in a few days'. Xiaolong said that trademark investors must have a full understanding of the registered trademark industry and always pay attention to the industry trends and some fashionable information. It is understood that policy orientation, social hotspots, audience popularity, etc., have all become hot spots for trademark registration. Last July, "Gangnam style" was released in South Korea, and immediately became popular around the world, attracting the attention of many enterprises. Some Chinese trademark investors have also begun to pay attention to and compete for the trademark of' Jiangnan style'. It is reported that' style' and' Jiangnan style', two trademarks with great market prospects in the eyes of investors, have been registered by a trademark designer and trademark investor named Xie in China before most people have time to react, and they are waiting for the price by taking advantage of the popularity of' Jiangnan Style' songs. Mr. Xie said that' style' in English and French means style, style and style, which is very suitable for clothing brands. It is catchy to read and easy to remember. If it is carefully built and promoted, it is likely to become an international brand. However, some insiders said that the reason why few people paid attention to this trademark before was because' style' means style and type, and it was not significant. Therefore, if it is used in goods, it is generally necessary to give up the exclusive right. It can be used in clothing, but the exclusive right should be given up, which means it can also be used in other industries, not for its own use.' Generally speaking, a trademark is registered with a limited category. For example, the trademark limited to wedding dresses cannot be used in clothing categories. At the time of application, ten categories of goods are usually submitted, and only one category of goods is approved.' More and more trademark investors are keeping an eye on and registering some valuable trademarks, seeking to increase the price and transfer them in the future. It is understood that some trademark investors will directly contact the registered enterprises after registering trademarks, and as long as the negotiations between the two sides are smooth, they can make profits. If the other party is unwilling to spend money to buy it, the trademark investor may sue the enterprise for infringing its trademark and force it to compromise. Moreover, it is a lawsuit to the court, demanding high compensation. Some people in the legal profession said that although some trademarks were not used in the production field after registration, they were hidden in the snow, waiting for the opportunity and getting compensation, but this practice took advantage of the legal loophole and did not violate the law, only to bear moral pressure. For some enterprises that have registered trademarks, trademark investors can also make profits by registering similar trademarks. Insiders admit that in the trademark world, many design inspirations are derived from imitation. For example, the' secret of ××××' in clothing imitates the' secret of Victoria' in clothing brand. Imitation, can (audit) pass, the market needs it. You don't like imitation, and I don't like imitation, but many customers like it, which makes it easier to cut into the market.' What is favored by customers is undoubtedly imitation. Mr. Feng, a trademark investor, told the reporter that if you want to buy an imitation trademark, you have to pay at least 1, yuan, and 2, yuan is the normal price. 5 thousand Paul (brand) is normal.' If there are other requirements, the more requirements, the higher the price. However, not all trademark investors are profitable. Some trademark investors told reporters that there are more and more people who take money to invest in the target, but few really make big money. After all, many registered trademark designs are imaginative, and finding a counterpart enterprise is tantamount to finding a needle in a haystack. A trademark investor in Hangzhou admits that there are no trademarks this year.