1． Brands and Trademarks

In the commodity economy, any product may be produced and sold by more or less different companies, and the quality of similar goods produced and sold by each company will vary. In order to differentiate their products from those of other companies, each company gives its products a name, which creates product brands and trademarks.

Brand is also called "factory brand", commonly known as "brand". It is a commercial mark used by producers or sellers of goods to distinguish their different products and products from other units. . It can be text, graphics, logos, or different combinations of the above three. The brand consists of two parts. One part is the brand name, which is the part of the brand that can be called, such as "golden deer", "snowflake", "little duck" and so on. The other part is the brand logo, which is the part of the brand that is easy to identify but cannot be called in spoken words, such as marks, colors, patterns, etc.

Trademark is a term that only appeared in the 19th century. It is the legal term for a brand, that is, a mark used by a producer or seller on its goods that will enjoy exclusive rights after being registered with the competent government department. Therefore, the main difference between it and a brand is that a trademark is protected by law after registration, while a brand is not protected by law. A brand consists of two parts: a name and a logo. The trademark is mainly registered for the logo, and the name is added for advertising purposes. With the development of the commodity economy, people realize the importance of trademarks to corporate products, so most of them register with the competent government departments. Therefore, trademarks and brands are now used synonymously. In formal situations, they are called trademarks, and in popular terms, they are called brands.

It can be seen from the definition of trademark that it has four characteristics.

①A trademark is a symbol of a product. Trademarks are closely related to the commodity economy. They can distinguish the products within the company as well as the products of other companies. Therefore, it has the attributes of commodity economy and is one of the assets of the enterprise.

②A trademark is the mark of a producer or seller of goods. It distinguishes the company from other companies and maintains the company's reputation and credibility. Therefore, it is significantly exclusive and does not allow any unit to infringe.

③Trademark is a sign of certain credibility and quality. Trademarks represent a certain reputation and quality in the market, and consumers can choose products through trademarks. Therefore, it is competitive and is a favorable means for enterprises to compete.

④A trademark is a sign that is different from other marks. A trademark is composed of certain words, graphics, marks, or a combination thereof, but it does not mean that all graphics, marks, etc. are trademarks. A trademark is a specially designed mark with exclusive rights. Although other marks are specially designed, they cannot indicate the origin and exclusive rights of the goods. Therefore, a trademark is distinctive, easy to read, easy to remember, and easy to identify.

Trademarks, as signs indicating the origin of goods, are closely related to both businesses and consumers. The use of registered trademarks is conducive to product publicity and promotion, and is conducive to safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of enterprises and consumers. It is conducive to promoting the development of foreign trade and is therefore an important part of the company's product portfolio.

2. Types of Trademarks

Types of trademarks are generally classified according to their composition and users.

(1) According to the composition of trademarks

According to the composition of trademarks, they can be divided into word trademarks, graphic trademarks, symbol trademarks and combination trademarks.

①Word trademark. A word trademark is a trademark composed of words, such as "forever", "555", "SONY", etc. The characters used in domestic product trademarks include words, numbers, Chinese pinyin, ethnic minority characters, etc. The trademarks of export products also use the characters of the importing country. In word trademarks, the name of the manufacturer or sales store can also be used as a trademark, such as the "Great Wall" brand wind and raincoat of Beijing Great Wall Wind and Raincoat Company, and the "Tongrentang" brand Chinese medicine of Tongrentang Pharmacy, etc. The advantage of using a company name as a trademark is that it promotes the company while promoting the product, but only those company names that are simple, loud, and clear in pronunciation are more suitable to be used.

② Graphic trademark. Graphic trademarks are trademarks composed of graphics, such as flowers, birds, insects, fish, astronomy and geography, places of interest, people, events, myths and legends, etc., which can be designed into trademarks. Graphic trademarks must be vivid, clear in purpose, distinctive, easy to recognize and easy to remember.

③Mark trademark.

A symbol trademark is a trademark composed of some abstract symbols, such as circles, squares, triangles, etc., which can form various trademarks. The advantage of this kind of trademark is that it is not restricted by language. The disadvantage is that it is inconvenient to call and easy to be confused with other people's trademarks.

④Combined trademark. A combination trademark is a trademark that is composed of text, graphics, and symbols. This combination can be two or three of them. For example, the trademark of the "Phoenix" brand bicycle has both the Phoenix pattern and the word "Phoenix", which is a combination of text and graphics. The combination trademark has pictures and texts, is vivid, easy to identify and call, and is very popular among the masses.

(2) According to the users of trademarks

According to the users of trademarks, they can be divided into manufacturing trademarks, sales trademarks, service trademarks and group trademarks.

①Manufacturing trademark. Also called "manufacturing trademark", it is a trademark used by product manufacturers. In order to establish the credibility of the company and expand product sales, manufacturers design and register trademarks for the company's products. Most of the trademarks currently used by Chinese enterprises are manufacturing trademarks.

②Sales trademark. Also called "commercial trademark". It is a trademark used by sellers on the goods they sell. Sales units using their own trademarks are conducive to establishing their own market reputation, but they require a certain price. Only large stores with strong funds use their own trademarks. At present, our country's commercial sector generally does not have its own trademarks, and only those time-honored brands with front stores and back factories use trademarks.

③Service trademark. Service trademarks are trademarks used by service companies to distinguish their services from other service businesses. For example, airlines, insurance companies, construction companies, banks, hotels, etc. can all set their own trademarks. The United States began to recognize service marks in 1946. Since then, more than 60 countries including the Philippines and Canada have successively announced the protection of service marks. my country has started registration of service trademarks on July 1, 1993.

④Group trademark. Also called a collective trademark, it is a trademark owned by public institutions, social groups, etc. and used unanimously by its members. At present, our country has not yet made specific regulations on this kind of trademark.

3. Principles of Trademark Design

A good trademark should be easy to recognize, cute and beneficial for promotion, that is, it should be easy to hear, easy to read, easy to remember, and easy to advertise. To this end, the following principles must be followed when designing a trademark:

(1) Avoid similarity with other people’s trademarks

In order to prevent others from infringing upon one’s trademark rights, the trademark must be Register with the national trademark management department. Trademark Law stipulates that identical trademarks will not be registered. Therefore, trademark design must follow the principle of not being similar to others.

Trademark similarities include two aspects. One is that the trademarks are identical, that is, the same trademark is used on the same goods. For example, two companies use the word "Panda" or the panda pattern as the trademark of their radios. The second is that the trademarks are similar, which refers to three situations: the first is that the same trademark is used on similar goods, for example, two companies use the "plum blossom" trademark, one is used on wall clocks, and the other is used on alarm watches; second Kind means that similar trademarks are used on the same goods. For example, "Golden Deer" and "Sika Deer" are both used as bicycle trademarks; the third type is that similar trademarks are used on similar products, such as "Gem" and "Diamond" trademarks are used on scarves and headscarves respectively.

To determine whether the trademarks themselves are similar, we mainly look at three aspects. First, look at whether the appearance is similar, including patterns and text, etc., such as the two Great Wall trademarks with different patterns, "Tianshan" and "Dashan" Word trademarks are all similar in appearance, and those trademarks with words reversed are also similar in appearance, such as the "山河" trademark and the "河山" trademark. Second, check whether the pronunciation is similar. For example, the trademarks "Sanyang" and "山阳" have similar pronunciations. Third, see if the meanings are similar. For example, "sunflower" and "sunflower" have similar meanings.

In order to avoid similarities in trademark design with other people’s trademarks, you must check with the trademark management department before designing to find out whether the trademark has been registered or is applying for registration. If you learn that others have not registered yet, you can apply yourself. The country implements the first-to-file principle for similar trademark registration and the first-to-use principle for applications filed on the same day. That is, if a similar trademark appears, whoever applies first will be approved, and whoever applies for the same day and uses it first will be approved. Therefore, you must apply for registration as soon as possible after the trademark is designed.

(2) Must comply with the requirements of the Trademark Law

In order to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the public, my country’s Trademark Law has made clear provisions on the restricted use of words and graphics in trademark design. , enterprises must comply with it when designing trademarks. Design of trademarks for export goods. You must also comply with the requirements of the importing country or region's trademark laws.

(3) The trademark design should be simple and eye-catching, with novel ideas and beautiful appearance

The main function of a trademark is to identify goods. Therefore, in order to make people leave a deep impression after seeing it. Impression requires not only concise words and clear patterns, but also conciseness and clarity. In terms of language, we should not be arrogant, have beautiful syllables, be pleasant to the ears, and not be sloppy. Otherwise, it will not leave a deep impression on people, and it will not play the role of advertising.

(4) The name design of a trademark must have its own characteristics

For a good trademark design, the name must have its own characteristics. First of all, the trademark should show the style of the enterprise or product, so that consumers can understand the image and characteristics of the enterprise and product from the trademark. Secondly, the trademark must conform to the psychology of consumers, so that consumers will have the desire to buy after seeing the trademark. For example, "Wanli" brand leather shoes can make people think that the leather shoes are exquisite and can travel thousands of miles.

(5) When designing export product trademarks, avoid using patterns and colors that are taboo in the local area, as well as trademark content that is likely to have heteronyms.

When designing trademarks for exported goods, you must first consider the trademark laws of the importing country. For example, Western countries generally do not allow registration of geographical name trademarks. If you register a trademark in a foreign country, you should pay attention to this. At the same time, the customs, habits, religious beliefs, etc. of the importing country must also be considered. Otherwise, the goods will not be able to enter the country's market. For example, the Japanese like cherry blossoms but taboo lotus; Italy and the United States taboo chrysanthemums; countries that believe in Islam taboo pigs; some North African countries taboo dogs; the French regard peacocks as a nuisance bird; the Swiss regard owls as a symbol of death; turtles are a symbol of death. In many areas, it represents ugliness, but in Japan it represents longevity; in Southeast Asia, some countries regard elephants as mascots, but Europeans believe that elephants mean stupidity; and so on. These are things that must be paid attention to when designing trademark patterns. As for the shape of the trademark, some countries in the world use triangles as warning signs. Turkey uses green triangles as symbols for free samples. In some Arab countries, hexagonal patterns, such as snowflakes, cannot be used because they are similar to the flag of Israel. Therefore, the trademarks of goods exported to these countries or regions cannot use these shapes. In terms of trademark colors, Americans don’t like purple; Egyptians like green and avoid blue; French people hate dark green and prefer blue; Japanese like white. If designing a digital logo. "Four" is taboo in Japan, and "Thirteen" is taboo in Christian countries.

In the design of export product trademarks, we should also pay attention to the difference between Chinese and foreign meanings. This includes two aspects. First, the Chinese meaning is good, but when translated into foreign languages, foreign languages ??generally have multiple meanings for a word, resulting in different meanings. For example, my country's "Sanyang" brand alarm clock has a pattern of a goat, and the English word "goat" means both goat and pervert, so this kind of alarm clock is not popular in the UK. Another example is the "Blue Sky" brand. The English trademark is "Blue-sky", which in English means (stocks, etc.) are of low value and are not insured. Another example is the "Violet" brand shirt, whose English trademark is "PANSY", and Pansy means an unmanly man or a homosexual man. On the other hand, Chinese pinyin is easily confused with foreign words, and the meaning changes. For example, in Chinese circus poker, the Chinese pinyin is MAXIPUKE. There is also a word spelled this way in English. maxi is the prefix of a word, which is the largest. Puke means vomit, vomit. The two words together mean: The biggest vomiting, this kind of trademark will not be questioned. Another example is the "Fangfang" brand of talcum powder exported from my country. The Chinese pinyin is FANGFANG, which means "wolf fang" or "venomous fang" in English. Obviously, this will also cause disgust among consumers and affect sales.

4. Self-protection of trademarks

Trademarks represent certain product quality and corporate reputation. Therefore, strengthening trademark management is of great significance for enterprises to improve product quality, carry out fair competition, and protect consumer interests. To strengthen trademark management, in addition to the industrial and commercial administrative departments must do a good job in management according to law, enterprises must also pay attention to self-protection in accordance with the provisions of the Trademark Law.

The self-protection of trademarks by enterprises mainly includes the following aspects:

(1) Use of registered trademarks

If enterprises want their trademarks to be protected by law, Application must be made to the national industrial and commercial administration department. Only after approval and registration can you obtain the exclusive right to trademark. Our country stipulates that registered trademarks enjoy exclusive rights within ten years. Other units may not use the trademark without the permission of the trademark owner and enjoy the rights of transfer, license and inheritance. The trademark owner may transfer the trademark, license others to use it, or designate a successor to inherit the trademark in accordance with regulations. If an infringement occurs, the trademark owner also has the right to sue.

(2) Transfer of registered trademark

Transfer of trademark means that the trademark registrant transfers the exclusive right of his trademark to others in accordance with the law. Through transfer, the trademark owner obtains income from trademark transfer. When an enterprise transfers a trademark, it must conduct a feasibility study to determine the transfer price of the trademark. The transfer price of a registered trademark is determined by the profit generated by the trademark. Generally speaking, the transfer price should be equal to the expected profit. If an enterprise licenses its registered trademark to others, it must sign a trademark license contract and file it with the Trademark Office. It must also charge trademark usage fees to the user. When enterprises transfer registered trademarks and license others to use their registered trademarks, they must pay attention to economic benefits and corporate reputation. There are two issues to consider: First, consider the economic benefits, that is, the amount of fees charged. When calculating royalties, it is necessary to consider not only the gap between the fees and the company's own profits from use, but also the losses caused to its own market by the other party's use of its own trademarks. Second, we must consider the reputation of the company, that is, we must consider the technical level and credibility of the users, so as not to let users ruin the company's brand.

(3) Do not design an alias when designing a trademark

If an alias is necessary, it should be registered together with the alias to prevent others from using the alias to infringe.

(4) When you find that others are infringing your trademark rights, you should stop it immediately and request legal protection if necessary.

5. Trademark Strategy

In order for a trademark to play a better role in marketing, an appropriate trademark strategy must be adopted. Trademark strategy includes two parts: initial use of a trademark and replacement of trademarks.

(1) Strategies for using trademarks

If you are using a trademark for the first time, you have the following strategies to choose from:

①Trademark and non-trademark strategies. The trademarking strategy means that all the company's products use trademarks, and the non-trademarking strategy means that the company's products do not use trademarks or registered trademarks. Use of Trademarks. It is of great benefit to companies to create famous brands, improve corporate reputation, and safeguard corporate interests. Consumers also hope to have trademarks to facilitate their purchases. Some products have national regulations that require the use of registered trademarks. However, using a trademark requires a certain fee. Therefore, there is no need to spend these fees on goods for which the use of a trademark is of little significance in terms of sales, that is, it is not necessary to use a trademark, or to design a trademark but not register it, such as electricity, coal, bricks, etc. Tiles and some other commonly used commodities, etc.

②Manufacturing trademark and sales trademark strategy. The manufacturing trademark strategy refers to the company using the trademark registered by the manufacturing company on its products. The sales trademark strategy is for a company to use the trademark registered by the commercial enterprise on the products it sells. The use of manufacturing trademarks is convenient for manufacturing companies to establish corporate reputation and expand product sales; for commercial companies, it is easy to use and requires no investment. However, when your product is sold in an area where the product is not yet known, it is more advantageous to use a sales trademark, because the reputation of the sales trademark is much better than that of the producer. This is especially true when dealing in export products. For example, my country's Fujian Province exports T-shirts to the United States that use the trademark of an American middleman and are very popular at $40 per piece; but use my country's own trademark and cost $5 per piece but few people buy them. In our country, it is also beneficial for some township and village enterprises to adopt sales trademarks due to lack of funds, technology and marketing experience. For sales units, using sales trademarks is also helpful in establishing market reputation, but it comes at a certain cost. therefore. Only commercial enterprises with strong financial resources have the power to use their own trademarks.

③ Unify trademark and individual trademark strategies. A unified trademark strategy means that multiple products produced by an enterprise use the same trademark. The advantage of using this strategy is that it can improve the company's reputation as quickly as possible, help open the market for new products, increase market share, and save advertising costs.

The disadvantage is that because these products use the same trademark, their fates are tied together. "One will suffer, one will prosper." Once the quality of one product has a problem, it will affect the reputation of the entire enterprise. There is a special form of unified trademark, that is, after one's own trademark becomes famous, in order to prevent others from infringing, the trademark is registered on other products. For example, the Japanese company Sony originally produced electrical appliances, but after the Sony trademark became famous, it registered it on bicycles and food. This unified trademark is essentially a defensive trademark. Individual trademark strategy refers to the use of one trademark for one product. The advantage of using this trademark strategy is that it makes it easier to distinguish products of different uses, properties, and qualities to meet the different needs of consumers. At the same time, it can also avoid excessive losses caused to the enterprise due to the abandonment of certain trademarks. The disadvantage is that since the company has many types of trademarks, management is difficult and it will increase advertising expenses.

④Joint trademark and group trademark strategies. Joint trademark strategy means that an enterprise uses multiple similar trademarks on one product, or registers several similar trademarks on different goods of the same type. There are three purposes for adopting this strategy: First, it is for defense, that is, to prevent other companies from using similar trademarks on similar products. For example, before the founding of New China, Shanghai’s “Tiger” brand Tiger Balm registered dozens of animal trademarks similar to tiger shapes. to avoid infringement by other companies. The second is for selection, that is, applying for multiple registered trademarks during the new product development period in order to understand which trademark consumers like and adopt the successful one in the future. This strategy is not suitable for general enterprises to adopt due to its high cost. Third, domestically registered trademarks are not suitable for export, so you need to apply for another trademark on export goods. For example, the export trademark of the "Bat" brand electric fan is "Mejiale". The grouping trademark strategy means that the company groups many varieties of similar products according to differences in specifications, grades, quality, prices, etc., and uses different trademarks for each group. This strategy is adopted mainly for ease of management and consumer choice.

⑤Well-known trademark and guaranteed trademark strategy. Well-known trademarks, also called famous trademarks, refer to trademarks that have an outstanding reputation and are well-known to the general public. It costs a lot for an enterprise to create a well-known trademark, but once it becomes well-known, not only will its products sell well around the world, but it will also be protected in all countries and regions that have participated in the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property. Guarantee trademarks, also called "certification trademarks", refer to trademarks that can distinguish the source, materials, manufacturing methods, precision or other characteristics of the goods, and can prove that they meet certain quality standards. Generally, relevant international or domestic organizations apply for registration and bear guarantee responsibilities. Enterprises must apply to this organization when using it. Since the guarantee trademark is a kind of quality certification, obtaining this trademark will help open up product sales.

(2) Trademark replacement strategy

Trademark replacement strategy means that the company abandons the original trademark and replaces it with a new one. As products are updated, trademarks also need to be updated. There are many reasons for trademark replacement. Some are because the trademark is old and cannot adapt to the characteristics of the current products; some are because the original product has problems and the brand has been changed. On the basis of improving product quality, a new trademark is needed to change consumers' perception of the product. Bad impression of the product, etc. There are two strategies for changing trademarks:

① Change to a new trademark. That is to abandon the original trademark and adopt a new trademark design. The advantage of this strategy is that it is easy to be new and different to show the characteristics of the enterprise; the disadvantage is that the cost is too high, because after the trademark is changed, everything involving the trademark must be updated, such as various signboards, means of transportation, letter paper, etc., and at the same time, Pay more for advertising.

②Replace the improved trademark. It is to improve the trademark design on the basis of the original trademark so that the designed new trademark is close to the old trademark. In this way, the two trademarks can be used together for a period of time, and when all the things with the old trademark are updated, the new trademark can be used. The advantage of adopting this strategy is that it costs very little and is easy to maintain the original reputation; the disadvantage is that it is restricted by the original trademark and it is difficult to introduce new products.