1. Pay attention to the confidentiality of trademark logos and creative ideas before application

Before applying to register a trademark logo, an enterprise must pay attention to taking confidentiality measures to protect the trademark logo and related creative ideas to avoid the trademark being used. Others rush to register.

Before applying for registration, enterprises must try to avoid public use of trademarks through publications, the Internet, sales, business negotiations, etc., and should also take confidentiality measures during commissioned creations and collaborative creations to avoid the infringement of creative ideas. Give way.

2. Before registering a trademark, you must first determine whether it can be registered

my country’s Trademark Office currently receives tens of thousands of trademark applications every day, and many text combinations are used over and over. A name that is easy for others to use has already been registered by others. If you submit a registration application, the Trademark Office will still accept it for you. However, it will only tell you that the trademark cannot be registered a year later and reject it for you, and the fee for your application will be 1 cent. We won’t give you a refund, the important thing is that you have already made a good preliminary publicity layout in the market. It will be a big loss in terms of money and time.

Step one: Query the category based on market demand. The classification of trademark applications is divided into commodity categories (categories 1-34) and service categories (categories 35-45) according to use, with ***category 45. A trademark designated for use on goods is a product trademark, and a trademark designated for use on services is a service trademark.

Step 2: Check whether the trademark has any adverse effects. When applying for trademark registration, you should also consider whether the name has any adverse effects. For example: whether it involves racial discrimination, religious beliefs, whether it is detrimental to morals, etc.

Step 3: Search for prior identical or similar trademarks. When designing product names, start-up companies should conduct a trademark search analysis in advance and consider the possibility of successful trademark registration. If through trademark search, if there are already identical or similar trademark applications for the same or similar goods and services, it is recommended that the startup company consider changing the product name according to market demand. Therefore, if your trademark contains Chinese, English and graphics at the same time, we recommend that you choose to register separately. This will not only improve the success rate of your trademark registration, but also facilitate the flexibility of your subsequent trademark use.

Step 4: Check the distinctiveness of the trademark. The distinctiveness of a trademark refers to the characteristics that a trademark should have that are sufficient to enable the relevant public to distinguish the source of the goods. The following are several situations of lack of distinctiveness: 1. Only the common name, graphics and model of the product. 2. Only directly express the quality, main raw materials, functions, uses, weight, quantity and other characteristics of the goods. 3. Others lacking distinctive features.

3. Ensure core categories while focusing on related categories

After ensuring that the category of goods or services used by the target trademark, or intended to be truly used, has not been registered by others, the company’s first priority It is to apply for registration of these categories to ensure that the trademark can be used on the core goods or service categories.

At the same time, attention should also be paid to registration in relevant categories, that is, registration in similar or related categories of goods or services, such as: upstream and downstream products of core products, product-related service areas, The main products sold in the service category, products that are usually bundled with or used together with the product, etc.

On the one hand, registration in relevant categories can expand the original exclusive rights of the trademark owner to protect the core trademark from infringement and prevent those with ulterior motives from clinging to goodwill and confusing the market; on the other hand, for This will lay the foundation for the company's future expansion in other related fields.

4. It is best to register combination trademarks separately, with text taking priority

The Trademark Law stipulates: Any sign that can distinguish the goods of a natural person, legal person or other organization from the goods of others, including Text, graphics, letters, numbers, three-dimensional logos, color combinations and sounds, as well as combinations of the above elements, can be applied for registration as trademarks.

When an enterprise applies for registered trademarks, it is necessary to register text, graphics, sound trademarks, etc. separately, so as to effectively resolve registration risks, increase the approval rate, and obtain the maximum scope of protection, because any combination of trademarks will be subject to review during review. If some of the requirements are not met, all trademarks will be rejected.

Due to the characteristics of word trademarks being easy to call and remember, among all types of trademarks, word trademarks are the most identifiable, making them occupy a core position in the trademark system. Therefore, enterprises should give priority to registration. word mark.

On the basis of already applying for word trademarks, through the registration of graphic trademarks and sound trademarks, the corporate trademark system will be more enriched and perfected.

Here, the editor reminds: local brands should not be foreignized when registering word trademarks. The editor recommends that everyone register more Chinese character trademarks to promote the confidence of Chinese culture.

5. Pay attention to the copyright ownership of trademark logo design

Many people often mistakenly believe that if a trademark is designed by an internal employee of the company, or the company has signed an entrustment contract with the designer, then their The copyright of a design trademark naturally belongs to the company. This is a big misunderstanding.

In fact, the copyright ownership of trademark logos must be agreed upon in clear and effective contract terms. Therefore, enterprises must clarify the copyright ownership of the logo with the trademark designer in advance, otherwise, it will easily cause operational risks after the trademark becomes bigger and stronger.

On the other hand, attention should be paid to retaining the creative manuscript, entrusting the creative contract, and fixing the creative content and creation time through copyright registration, time stamp, or email, postal letter, etc., to clarify the establishment of copyright Time, author, rights holder and content of the work.

6. Establish use evidence files

Trademark use evidence files are files formed by an enterprise's use of trademarks in its business operations, including trademark promotional materials, advertising materials, and sales materials.

On the one hand, whether it is a trademark rejection, objection, invalidation or withdrawal procedure, evidence of trademark use is required, which can provide strong evidence support for rights protection when trademark rights are infringed, thus effectively Fight against infringement.

On the other hand, trademark use evidence files help companies cultivate well-known trademarks. Actively cultivate trademark visibility, retain traces and proofs of trademark promotion and use, and apply for recognition of famous trademarks and well-known trademarks at the appropriate time, so that enterprises can remain invincible in the fierce market competition.

7. If the company address changes, the trademark must be changed accordingly

If the company name or address is changed, the trademark under the company's name should be changed accordingly. Article 41 of my country’s Trademark Law stipulates that if a registered trademark needs to change the name, address or other registration matters of the registrant, a change application must be submitted.

Trademark registration application is a highly professional job, and the process is complex and time-consuming. Applicants often need a period of time to understand the trademark registration process and precautions, which greatly reduces the work efficiency, and in the process of trademark registration Any omissions in any link will be in vain. Entrusting the trademark registration application to a formal agency can greatly improve registration efficiency