United States: the principle of priority use

Trademark registration in the United States implements the principle of "first use", that is, the first user of a trademark is protected by law. According to American law, trade and the actual use of trademarks are needed to obtain the legal protection of trademarks. Although the United States has introduced the registration system, "prior use" is still a prerequisite for applying for registration. 1988 The American Trademark Law was amended to allow the applicant to apply for a trademark based on "expected use", which loosened the principle of prior use. In fact, the application for registration based on "intended use" stipulated in the amendment of 1988 still has a strong color of "use". Only after the applicant has actually used it within 36 months and submitted a certificate of actual use to the Trademark Office can the applicant obtain trademark registration.

According to the principle of "first use", a trademark may or may not be registered. As long as unregistered trademarks are in use, they can also be protected by law: when a lawsuit is filed for infringement, evidence of prior use must be provided. The registration of trademarks shows the special rights of trademark registrants. After five years of registration, the trademark will not allow other users of the same trademark to raise various disputes. In addition, the registered trademark owner has the right to pursue the legal responsibility of the trademark fraudster and demand economic compensation. If the trademark of a company or individual is not registered, the first user of the trademark can only ask the court to stop the use of the trademark infringer, but can't get the corresponding economic compensation.

Domestic: apply the first principle

The principle of "application first" means that the ownership of trademark rights is based on the date of filing an application for trademark registration, which is one of the important procedural principles derived from the registration principle. In countries where the establishment of trademark rights adopts the principle of registration, two different principles are adopted to determine the ownership of trademark rights for identical or similar trademark registration applications filed by different applicants, namely, the principle of first application and the principle of first use. The principle of first application determines the ownership of trademark rights in the order of application date. The principle of prior use is to determine the ownership of trademark rights according to the order of use of trademarks. China's trademark law adopts the principle of application priority, supplemented by the principle of use priority. Article 29 of the Trademark Law stipulates that if two or more applicants for trademark registration apply for registration with the same or similar trademarks on the same kind of goods or similar goods, they shall preliminarily examine and approve the trademarks applied earlier and make an announcement; If an application is filed on the same day, the prior trademark shall be preliminarily examined and announced, and if the application of others is rejected, it shall not be announced. Article 30 stipulates that the application for trademark registration shall not damage the prior rights of others, nor shall it preempt the registration of trademarks that others have used and have certain influence by improper means.