There are probably two kinds of good things in the world: one looks good, and the other is really good. From the perspective of trademark registration, we will have a shallow and rough discussion on trademarks that look good or are really good. It can also be regarded as a reminder to enterprises and trademark users to make initial plans and arrangements for trademarks that they may use for hundreds of years, starting from trademark design and registration.
As far as the matter of "Xu Fu Ji" and "Yu Fu Ji" is concerned, it is essentially a question of whether the two constitute similar trademarks. It is not complicated, but it contains a less distinctive trademark. Issues regarding its use, protection and brand building are worthy of in-depth discussion.
First of all, there are currently many trademarks with relatively poor distinctiveness existing and emerging in our country, which mainly include two categories: one category is trademarks that directly use common names or are close to common names as the main body, such as: "Bamboo Leaf Green", "Good Doctor", "Good Doctor", "Liao Ji Bangbang Chicken", "Spring Tea", "Chun Tea Hall", etc. are also registered in the tea category; the other category contains surnames Trademarks such as: "Xu Fu Ji", "Yu Fu Ji", "Zhang Family", "Wang Family", "Bai Family", "Huang Family", etc. It looks good. I think it is simple and easy to remember, has a certain meaning, and may have the flavor of a time-honored brand. It is closer to consumers, and the market effect will be easier to form. Actually, it doesn't seem to be as good as imagined.
Article 9 of my country’s Trademark Law stipulates that “the trademark applied for registration shall have distinctive features, be easy to identify, and shall not conflict with the legal rights previously obtained by others.” Because the above two types of trademarks still have a certain degree of distinctiveness and do not infringe the legal rights of others, the State Trademark Office approved the registration, allowing them to obtain trademark rights. The trademarks mentioned above look good, but from the perspective of trademark law, they have the problem of missing and incomplete trademark exclusive rights. In actual use, trademark protection is difficult to achieve, and it is not conducive to brand building.
Having said this, I have to give a brief explanation of the "exclusive right to trademark": the exclusive right to trademark is granted upon application by the subject (natural person or legal person, etc.), and is granted to the national administrative agency through administrative review and approval in accordance with legal provisions. The core of the subject's exclusive rights as a commercial mark is the exclusive right to use, which is the right that only the subject can use and no one else can use it; it also includes similar protection. Then, trademarks with poor distinctiveness cannot fully and exclusively possess the exclusive rights to trademarks. In other words, these trademarks cannot inhibit or resist the normal use (identical or similar) of others. As mentioned above, "good doctor" is different from "good doctor". "Doctor", "Yu Fu Ji" to "Xu Fu Ji", etc. - even if the glyphs are similar, the meanings are the same or similar, etc., there is nothing you can do.
The purpose of applying for a registered trademark is fundamentally to obtain the exclusive right to use a trademark to mark one's own goods or services, thereby distinguishing them from other people's goods or services, and to use, promote and use them as a brand. protected by law. Any unauthorized use of a trademark that is identical or similar to a registered trademark on the same or similar goods or services constitutes infringement and will be prohibited from use in accordance with the law and will bear corresponding adverse consequences.
Secondly, when we hear the term "Bamboo Leaf Green", we seem to think of a tea category name like Longjing, Tieguanyin, Biluochun, etc., which has a long historical and cultural heritage. Although the three words "Bamboo Leaf Green" are currently applied for registration as a trademark by a tea industry Co., Ltd. in Emei, Sichuan Province, and a large amount of publicity has been carried out to strengthen its distinctiveness, it is still unable to resist other "Bamboo Leaf Green Tea" production companies and other related parties. The company's use of corporate trade names (such as: Bamboo Leaf Green Beauty Group Co., Ltd., Hainan Province Bamboo Leaf Green Co., Ltd., etc.), product names (such as: XX brand Bamboo Leaf Green Tea), product packaging, etc. The same principle applies to the "Good Doctor" trademark. For example, how about advertising: A certain hospital in Chengdu is a "good doctor"? How about "Best Doctor" Pharmacy? There are so many more and so on, but I can't "fight counterfeiting" or "protect my rights" because I don't have that right at all - the complete exclusive right to trademark. So, the so-called "anti-counterfeiting" and "rights protection" are all imaginary. The author made 403 similar searches for "Good Doctor", "Doctor Gao", etc. According to the author's knowledge, the owner of the "Good Doctor" trademark once raised objections to the registration of various "Doctor" trademarks, all of which were objections. Ended invalid.
Even from a general point of view, it is unimaginable and unacceptable that no hospital, medical institution, pharmaceutical company, or medical device company can use the word "Good Doctor" except for the owner of the "Good Doctor" trademark. possible.
From the perspective of trademark review, compared with "Yu Fu Ji", "Xu Fu Ji" is the name of a store and is not distinctive, while the combination of "surname + Fu Ji" There are currently more than 40 trademarks successfully registered in 43 categories of catering and accommodation services. Their coexistence also proves that "福记" is not distinctive. In this way, "Xu Fu Ji" and "Yu Fu Ji" even include "Bao Fu Ji", "Cai Fu Ji", "Chai Fu Ji", "Dai Fu Ji", "Ding Fu Ji", "Du Fu Ji", "Feng Fu Ji", "Gao Fu Ji", The significant difference that trademarks such as "Guo Fuji" can coexist without being similar is that the surnames contained in the trademarks are different. However, there are only a few hundred common surnames among the 1.3 billion Chinese people. It is impossible for anyone to monopolize these surnames without letting others use them. In other words, although the registrant of a trademark containing a surname has trademark rights, However, in fact, you cannot truly enjoy the exclusive right to trademark, and it is impossible to prohibit others from using the company or store's trade name (such as Caoji), name (such as Sichuan Gaofuji Food Co., Ltd.), product name (such as Caoji Beef), Use in other forms other than as a trademark on product packaging, etc.
These are all manifestations of the lack of exclusive rights to trademarks, or it should be said the other way around: it is precisely because of the lack of exclusive rights to trademarks that it is difficult for their trademarks to effectively protect themselves and combat infringement during actual use. , unable to curb a large number of "free-riding" behaviors, and at the same time, it spends a huge amount of money to strengthen the distinctiveness of the trademark in the process of brand promotion and shaping, and it is always difficult to achieve the desired effect and make it difficult for consumers to distinguish its goods or services from others.
Third, what kind of trademark is a truly good trademark? Generally speaking, a good trademark has strong distinctiveness, complete exclusive rights, and is easy to protect and build a brand. Those really good trademarks, such as "Quanjude", "Haier", "Gree", etc., are extremely distinctive. Unless there is a big risk of "infringement", others cannot free ride on them in any form. If someone names his business or shop "Tianjin Quanjude Catering Co., Ltd." or "Wangji Quanjude" and calls his products "Quanjude Roast Duck", "Quanjude Beef" or "Wangji Quanjude Beef", use " Quanjude", using the advertising slogan "Century-old Wang remembers the delicious Quanjude", etc., must be infringements and will inevitably fall into the legal norms. They will be prohibited according to law and bear corresponding legal liability. "Haier", "Gree", etc. are also like this.
We believe that it has unique distinctiveness that enables consumers to easily distinguish their goods or services from those of others, and can be used in the CIS system (abbreviation of corporate identity system, that is, "unification of enterprises"). "Image Identification System") covers the enterprise's concept identification (mindidentity, referred to as mi), enterprise behavior identification (behavioridentity, referred to as bi), enterprise visual identity (visual identity, referred to as vi), enterprise auditory identification (audioidentity, referred to as ai) and A truly good trademark can be achieved when all five aspects of corporate environmental identity (ei) can form complete protection and form a unique and unique brand image together with corporate name, product packaging, advertising slogans, patents and copyrights, etc. .
In general, the act of applying for trademark registration itself is to request and obtain legal protection. What can the law protect? It is the exclusive right of trademark. Well, generally speaking, the core of a good trademark is the complete exclusive rights of the trademark. This is the first thing that should be considered in trademark design, followed by our commercial, market, communication and other considerations and designs. A trademark with complete exclusive rights will be very stable for your own use and will not be easily "similar" by others on purpose. The "anti-counterfeiting" and "rights protection" measures are accurate and clear.
At the same time, when efforts are made to build a corporate brand with its trademark name and logo as the main body, its characteristics can be highlighted, it is easier to protect, and it is easier to prevent others from "free riding" behavior; more importantly, it is easier to use all the resources of the enterprise Integrate under a unified brand in order to achieve higher value of the corporate brand marked by the corporate owner's trademark.
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