What exactly does trademark squatting mean for time-honored brands? The meaning of trademark squatting has gone through two stages of development. In the first stage, the objects of trademark squatting are basically limited to unregistered trademarks; at this stage, the connotation of trademark squatting has been further expanded, and other people’s trademarks or well-known trademarks that are already well-known to the public apply for registration on non-similar goods or services. This behavior also belongs to squatting. Furthermore, the act of applying for registration of other people’s innovative designs, design patents, company names and trade names, copyrights and other prior rights as trademarks should also be regarded as trademark squatting. Trademark squatting can be divided into a narrow sense and a broad sense. Trademark squatting in the narrow sense refers to the competitive behavior of registering a trademark before the original trademark owner to obtain economic benefits. The system of obtaining exclusive rights to trademarks has become the theoretical basis for trademark squatting. Countries around the world have different regulations on the confirmation and acquisition of exclusive rights to trademarks. To sum up, they generally adopt three methods: "registration principle", "use principle" and "mixed principle". The so-called registration principle is to determine the ownership of trademark rights according to the order of application for trademark registration. Whoever applies first will be granted exclusive rights to the trademark, regardless of whether the trademark has been used. Application for registration is the only legal fact that forms the exclusive right to use a trademark, so the most basic legal feature of the registration principle is the application for trademark registration. Corresponding to the registration principle is the use principle, which determines the ownership of a trademark based on the order in which the trademark is used. Whoever uses the trademark first will enjoy the exclusive right to the trademark. Applying for trademark registration is not a necessary requirement. Both the registration principle and the use principle have advantages and disadvantages. Using the registration principle to obtain exclusive rights to trademarks facilitates the management of trademarks. It is also easy for trademark owners to identify disputes over the ownership of the trademark. The legal relationship of trademark rights is clear and stable, and it is easy to investigate and obtain evidence. . Its disadvantages are that it is too rigid, lacks flexibility, and cannot protect the prior use rights of trademarks. Obtaining exclusive rights to a trademark by adopting the principle of use fully protects the prior use rights of the parties, is flexible and practical, and can avoid confusion among consumers due to different users using the same trademark one after another. However, it lacks stability and makes it difficult to verify evidence of the trademark user’s use of the trademark, which is not conducive to trademark management. Most countries now adopt the registration principle to obtain and confirm exclusive rights to trademarks, while only a few countries such as the United States adopt the use principle. Article 3 of China's Trademark Law stipulates: Trademarks approved and registered by the Trademark Office are registered trademarks, including commodity trademarks, service marks, collective trademarks, and certification marks; the trademark registrant enjoys the exclusive right to use the trademark and is protected by law. It can be seen that our country adopts the registration principle. It uses application for registration as the legal basis for obtaining exclusive rights to a trademark. Whoever applies for registration first will have exclusive rights to the trademark. Prior use cannot be used as a basis for obtaining exclusive rights to a trademark. Even if a trademark user has already used a certain trademark commercially, he or she cannot obtain the exclusive right to use the trademark without filing a registration application with the Trademark Office, and the trademark he or she uses is not protected by law. Therefore, the application principle only determines that the first person to apply for trademark registration has the exclusive right to trademark. The legal results of this system provide the possibility and inevitability for trademark squatting. Trademark squatting often occurs in commercial competition, so you need to plan reasonably to minimize the loss of your own rights and interests. But the more important thing is that your own interest protection does exist legally. Regarding commercial competition, you need to learn to be reasonable. Use relevant legal means to protect your rights and interests and reduce the infringement of your own interests.