TM means a trademark that is under application but has not yet been approved. R means a officially approved trademark. When the trademark passes the review and the three-month announcement period has passed, the R mark can be used. The TM trademark and the R trademark have different markings. The TM trademark is represented by the letters TM, and the R trademark is represented by a circle R. TM trademarks and trademarks have different legal effects. The TM trademark is under application and is not protected by law; the R trademark is strictly protected by law and is a registered trademark. The TM trademark can also be used by others, while the R trademark is exclusive and cannot be used by any other person or organization except the trademark owner.
Expansion: The composition of a trademark
As the letters that constitute a trademark, it refers to the smallest writing unit of pinyin characters or phonetic symbols, including pinyin characters, foreign letters such as English letters, Latin letters, etc. .
The original Trademark Law classified trademarks consisting only of letters into the category of word trademarks. However, in the newly revised Trademark Law in 2001, letters were regarded as one of the constituent elements of a trademark. This provision has changed. It is in line with reality and also facilitates the trademark authorities to review and approve trademark registration applications in accordance with the law. Numbers as components of trademarks are also new provisions of the 2001 Trademark Law. The numbers constituting the trademark can be either Arabic numerals or Chinese uppercase numerals. As a three-dimensional mark that constitutes a trademark, it can also be called a three-dimensional mark. It is a three-dimensional mark with three dimensions: length, width and height. A trademark mark composed of a three-dimensional mark is called a three-dimensional mark.
It is different from the trademark pattern that we usually see on a flat surface, but appears in a three-dimensional material form. This form may appear on the appearance of the product or on the product. container or elsewhere. The addition of provisions for the registration and protection of three-dimensional trademarks is a new addition to the Trademark Law revised in 2001, which will make China's trademark protection system more complete.
The color combination alone as a trademark element is also a newly added content in the 2001 Trademark Law. Unique and novel color combinations can not only give people a sense of beauty, but are also distinctive, can play a role in indicating the source of products or services, and can also play a role in distinguishing producers, operators or service providers.
As the colors of the words, graphics, letters, numbers, sounds, three-dimensional signs or their combinations that constitute the trademark, if no specific color requirements are explicitly stated when applying for trademark registration, they will be registered as black and white, or as black and white. Black and white color protection. If a designated color or color combination is clearly stated, the registration will be based on the designated color or color combination, and the designated color or color combination will also be protected.