Reason 1: Not using it for three consecutive years

Someone asked: Why can someone else withdraw a trademark that was registered before and is now in good use?

When encountering this situation, you should have received a notification letter from the Trademark Office. The first sentence in it is that someone has withdrawn the trademark on the grounds of non-use for three consecutive years in accordance with Article 49 of the Trademark Law. You, we call it "Withdraw Three" for short. This sentence means that others have laws to follow. To put it simply, whether it is Chinese characters or English letters, there are only so many combinations, and trademark review is The same or similar principles cannot be registered.

In short, trademarks are scarce resources, and the validity period of trademarks is ten years. If everyone has tens of thousands of trademarks on hand, people who really need to use the trademarks will not be able to register them. Scarce resources are used effectively, which is why Article 49 of the Trademark Law is in place. The "Trademark Law" stipulates: "If a registered trademark is not used for three consecutive years without justifiable reasons, any unit or individual may apply to the Trademark Office to cancel the registered trademark." This is what we usually call "trademark withdrawal for three years."

After the "withdrawal" is successful, the trademark owner will lose the exclusive rights to the trademark. Of course, if you want to appeal, you can also submit valid evidence of trademark "use" to the Trademark Office within the specified time, or explain the "justifiable reasons" for not using the trademark, such as force majeure, government policy restrictions, bankruptcy liquidation, etc.

Reason 2: Malicious registration of trademarks

The so-called "malicious registration" is just a popular term for people. According to the current provisions of Article 31 of the Trademark Law, that is, " You may not use unfair means to preemptively register a trademark that is already used by others and has a certain influence." Therefore, "malicious registration" means that the applicant uses unreasonable or illegal methods to apply to the Trademark Office for registration of a trademark that has been used by others but has not yet been registered.

For new applications for registered trademarks that violate this provision, the prior rights holder or interested party may file an objection with the Trademark Office. For a successfully registered trademark, within five years from the date of registration, the prior right holder or interested party may request the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board to declare the registered trademark invalid. If the registration is malicious, the owner of the well-known trademark is not subject to the five-year time limit and can request the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board to declare the registered trademark invalid at any time

Reason 3: The trademark becomes a common name

The "Trademark Law" stipulates: "If a registered trademark becomes the common name of the goods approved for use, any unit or individual may apply to the Trademark Office to cancel the registered trademark."

The important function of a trademark is to distinguish goods or The source of services, therefore, the Trademark Law stipulates that applying for a registered trademark must be distinctive. If a registered trademark is frequently used to describe designated goods, causing it to gradually become a common name, the distinctiveness of the registered trademark will be greatly weakened, and therefore it will face the risk of being revoked

Reason 4: Irregular use. Changing the font and pattern at will

Article 49 of the "Trademark Law" stipulates: "If a trademark registrant changes the registered trademark, the registrant's name, address or other registration matters on his own during the use of the registered trademark, he shall The local administrative department for industry and commerce will order the company to make corrections within a time limit; if it fails to make corrections within the time limit, the Trademark Office will revoke its registered trademark. "

It is a common-sense mistake for small and medium-sized enterprises to change the font and pattern of the trademark at will. The most. Many companies subjectively believe that the trademark belongs to them and they can use it however they want. From the perspective of Trademark Law, this idea is wrong. Irregular use of trademarks may result in administrative penalties from administrative law enforcement departments, resulting in the loss of trademark exclusive rights; in serious cases, if the above behavior constitutes infringement, not only administrative liability but also civil liability will be borne.

Reason 5: The trademark has not been renewed upon expiration

The "Trademark Law" stipulates: "If a registered trademark expires and you want to continue to use it, the trademark registrant shall renew it within ten years before the expiration date." The renewal procedures shall be carried out in accordance with the regulations within two months; if the renewal procedures are not completed within this period, a six-month grace period may be given and the registered trademark shall be cancelled.”

Trademarks also have a shelf life. After the trademark is successfully registered, the effective shelf life is 10 years. After expiration, the trademark will be revoked! This involves ten-year trademark renewal.

The "Trademark Law" stipulates that the validity period of a registered trademark is 10 years. Once the validity period expires, if you still need to continue to use it, you should apply for renewal of registration within 12 months before the expiration; if you fail to apply during this period, you may be given 6 months of grace. If an application has not been made before the extension period expires, the trademark will be cancelled.