Extended information:
Trademark registration is the premise and condition for trademark users to obtain the exclusive right to use trademarks, and only registered trademarks are protected by law. The principle of trademark registration is the basic criterion for determining the exclusive right to use a trademark. The choice of different registration principles is the result of weighing the relationship between legal certainty and legal fairness in this issue.
in a nutshell, a trademark is a brand of goods, which is a mark used by producers and operators of goods to distinguish the goods they produce or operate from those produced or operated by other producers or operators. This kind of mark usually consists of a combination of words, graphics, English and numbers.
trademarks protect trademark registrants by ensuring that they have the exclusive right to indicate goods or services, or to license others to use them for remuneration.
Many electronic brand trademarks are word mark; The Mercedes-Benz trademark (a triangular outer ring) of Mercedes-Benz is a graphic trademark; Phoenix Bicycle Factory's "Phoenix" trademark is a combination of words "Phoenix" and phoenix bird's graphics, which is a combination of words and graphics.
trademark registration refers to the legal fact that a trademark user applies for registration of the trademark he uses to the State Trademark Office (Trademark Office of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce) in accordance with the conditions and procedures prescribed by law, and the registration is approved by the State Trademark Office according to law. In China, trademark registration is the premise of trademark protection and the legal basis for determining the exclusive right to use a trademark. Once a trademark user is approved for trademark registration, it indicates that it has obtained the exclusive right to use the trademark and is protected by law.
the trademark used by an enterprise is not registered, and the most fatal weakness is that the trademark user does not enjoy the exclusive right to use the trademark. That is to say, using this trademark, others can also use this trademark, which affects the basic function of trademarks to indicate the source of goods, and also leads to a great discount on the role of trademarks in representing the quality and reputation of certain goods. For example, the "Blue Sky" brand rice cookers produced by enterprise A are inexpensive and very popular with consumers. However, the "Blue Sky" trademark is not registered, so some other manufacturers think that this kind of cooker can sell well and sell at a good price, so they have put the "Blue Sky" trademark on their own rice cookers for sale. As a result, the market sales of enterprise A declined rapidly, and the reputation of the "Blue Sky" trademark plummeted. Many consumers even demanded that enterprise A return or compensate for economic losses with the "Blue Sky" brand rice cookers produced by other enterprises. Although this situation is beyond the expectation of enterprise A, it should be expected. Enterprise A requests the trademark authority to stop other enterprises from using the "Blue Sky" trademark, but because the trademark is not a registered trademark, Enterprise A does not enjoy the exclusive right to use the trademark, and the trademark authority's request to Enterprise A cannot be accepted.
another weakness of an unregistered trademark is that once someone else registers the trademark first, the first user of the trademark can no longer use it, and this lesson is very profound. According to the Trademark Law of China, the original acquisition of the exclusive right to use a trademark can only be achieved through trademark registration, and the application for trademark registration adopts the principle of prior application, that is, whoever applies for registration first will be granted the exclusive right to use the trademark. Therefore, no matter how long an enterprise uses a trademark, if it does not register the trademark, the exclusive right to use the trademark will be granted to others as long as others apply for registration of the trademark.
another weakness of unregistered trademarks is that unregistered trademarks may be the same as or similar to registered trademarks used in the same or similar goods, thus causing infringement. By the end of 1999, the total number of registered trademarks in China had reached nearly one million. When applying for new trademark registration, the rejection rate of the application is almost 7% without prior inquiry. That is to say, if an unregistered trademark is used, the probability that the trademark is the same as or similar to a registered trademark used on the same or similar goods is 7%. In other words, the use of unregistered trademarks has a 7% possibility of infringement. Because Article 38 of the Trademark Law of China stipulates that "it is an infringement of the exclusive right to use a registered trademark to use the same or similar trademark on the same or similar goods without the permission of the registered trademark". Infringement, it is necessary for the infringer to bear the legal consequences of infringement. Therefore, the use of unregistered trademarks, regardless of the original intention, there is always the possibility of infringing on the exclusive right of others to register trademarks. Infringement will be punished, economic losses will be compensated, and the production and business activities of enterprises will be affected. For the normal operation of enterprises, for the development of enterprises, and for the purpose of respecting the exclusive right of others to use registered trademarks, enterprises that use unregistered trademarks shall apply for trademark registration.
unregistered trademarks have another weakness, that is, unregistered trademarks cannot form industrial property rights, so they cannot become intangible assets of users. As stipulated in the Trademark Law of China, the exclusive right to use a registered trademark is protected by law, while the unregistered trademark is not protected by law, and its users do not enjoy the exclusive right to use a trademark. Therefore, in a strict sense, only registered trademarks are industrial property rights in China, and only registered trademarks can become intangible assets of enterprises.