In order to protect their trademarks, trademark holders are really worried. Whether they are well-known companies such as "White Rabbit" toffee or "Xiaomi" mobile phones, they will do everything possible to reach the level of human beings. A new upper limit for IQ. Several trademarks, including Big Gray Rabbit, Big Black Rabbit, Little White Rabbit, Red Rice, and Blue Rice, have been registered. It may seem funny, but in fact it is a way for manufacturers to protect their trademarks. Below Bajie will introduce several ways to defend trademarks
The so-called defensive trademarks mean that companies cover more goods or services with their registered trademarks, or use the patterns and words of their trademarks to sound like trademarks. Registered as a joint trademark.
There are two main ways to defend trademarks. One is cross-category defense. According to the "Classification of Goods and Services for Trademark Registration" (referred to as the "Classification List"), all goods and services are currently divided into 45 categories. After an enterprise registers a trademark in one category, it then registers the same trademark in other categories that the enterprise may be involved in in the future in order to reserve the trademark for expanding its business scale. For example, if the word "Zhongyun" is used as a trademark, after it is registered for beer and mineral water in the 32nd category on the classification table, in order to prevent others from preemptively registering the "Zhongyun" trademark on liquor, red wine, and dairy products that the company can enter in the future. , and then registered the "Zhongyun" trademark on liquor and red wine in the 33rd category and dairy products in the 29th category.
The other is the same type of defense. In order to prevent others from applying for similar trademarks on the same category of goods (or services), the trademark owner registers a trademark that is close to the original trademark, has the same pronunciation, or has a similar glyph in the same industry and category. For example, Alibaba has registered trademarks such as "Alibaba" and "Alimama". Lao Gan Ma has registered trademarks such as "Lao Gan Dad" and "Lao Gan Niang". Defense registrations of the same category are more common.
The significance of registering a defensive trademark for a company as a trademark owner cannot be underestimated. By registering multiple defensive trademarks, companies can achieve the purpose of reducing the risk of brand copycats, reducing the cost of trademark rights protection, and preventing malicious competition from other companies. However, registering a defensive trademark is not a one-time decision. The following two situations of overdue registration will result in preemptive registration.
Defensive trademarks are not valid for a long time
The first category is those that have not been used within three years. According to Paragraph 2 of Article 49 of the Trademark Law, if the registered trademark is stopped for three consecutive years, the Trademark Office will revoke the registered trademark. In other words, if the trademark owner registers a defensive trademark and does not use it within 3 years, other companies can register it.
For example, because French Crocodile registered the "Crocodile" trademark (hereinafter referred to as the trademark involved) in the 16th category of goods, such as printed products, but has not put it into commercial use for three consecutive years, a natural person in Zhejiang filed a complaint with the State Administration for Industry and Commerce. The Trademark Office (hereinafter referred to as the Trademark Office) applied to cancel the trademark.
The other type is that the registration has not been renewed 10 years and 6 months after successful registration. According to the provisions of Articles 39 and 40 of the Trademark Law, the effective period of use of a trademark after successful registration is 10 years. 12 months before the expiration of the validity period, the trademark applicant can apply for trademark renewal; if no application is made during the renewal period For renewal applications, there is still a 6-month extension period. If no application for trademark renewal is submitted during the extension period, the Trademark Office will cancel the trademark after the expiration of the extension period.
For example, if the school emblem of Renmin University is three side-by-side seal script "人" figures, after it is successfully registered as a trademark in categories 35, 39, and 41 in the classification table, the exclusive period is from June 2004 to 2014. June. However, until February 2015, Renmin University still did not renew the above-mentioned trademark, resulting in the school emblem graphic trademark being registered by a company in Category 41.
Well-known trademarks are more defensive
The purpose of trademark owners to register defensive trademarks is to prevent similar or similar goods from being copied, and to prevent different types of goods from using the same trademark, so as to prevent them from being copied. Expand the influence of registered trademarks as much as possible and improve the brand effect of trademarks. However, there is a more direct and effective way to apply for recognition of a well-known trademark.
The scope of protection for well-known trademarks in the Trademark Law is wider than that of ordinary registered trademarks. According to Article 13 of the Trademark Law, the protection scope of well-known trademarks registered in China includes dissimilar or dissimilar goods.
The protection scope of ordinary registered trademarks is limited to identical or similar goods. In other words, the owner of a well-known trademark does not need to take defensive trademark measures to prevent the brand from being copied.
How to determine a well-known trademark?
The factors that should be considered in determining a well-known trademark are: the relevant public’s awareness of the trademark, the duration of trademark use, the duration, extent and extent of the trademark’s publicity work geographical scope, record of protection as a well-known mark and other factors. During the dispute resolution process, both the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board and the people's court handling the case can make a conclusion on whether a well-known trademark is constituted.
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