Trademark registration steps 1. Registration preparation chooses registration methods: one is to apply for registration in the Trademark Office of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce; The other is to entrust an experienced trademark agency to organize agency services. It is best to find an authoritative inquiry company to make inquiries before registration, which can reduce the risk of trademark registration and improve the certainty of trademark registration.
2. Prepare materials, including a copy of the trademark pattern, the applicant's ID card and business license, and submit a copy; An application for trademark registration stamped with the official seal of the unit.
Start applying
4. Apply according to the classification of goods and services. When applying for registration, the category of goods or services using trademarks shall be determined according to the classification in the Classification Table of Goods and Services; Where the same applicant uses the same trademark on different categories of goods, it shall apply for registration according to different categories.
5. The date of application shall be the date when the Trademark Office receives the application. Then there are three procedures: trademark examination, preliminary examination announcement and registration announcement.
6. Obtain a trademark registration certificate.
Three principles of trademark registration 1, principle of classified application
An application is limited to one trademark. Where an application for the same trademark is filed on different categories of goods, an application for registration shall be filed in accordance with the commodity classification table;
Where it is used on other commodities of the same category, a separate application for registration shall be filed.
2. The principle of prohibiting malicious cybersquatting
The trademark applicant shall not damage the existing prior rights of others, and shall not rob others of the trademarks that have been used and influenced by improper means.
3. The principle of applying first
(1) Apply first and use first as compensation.
When the applicant conflicts with the same trademark, the principle is to apply first, then compensate, and then use first.
If the application is filed on different dates, the earlier application will be published;
If the application is made on the same day, preliminary examination and approval will be made and the application will be announced in advance;
If it is used or not used on the same day, draw lots to determine an applicant;
Those who have notified but did not participate in the lottery shall be deemed to have given up their application, and the Trademark Office shall notify them in writing.
The date of application for trademark registration is the date when the Trademark Office receives the application documents.
(2) Determination of priority.
If an applicant applies for trademark registration in China for the same commodity with the same trademark within six months from the date of the first application for registration of its trademark in a foreign country, or from the date of the first use of the trademark in a national exhibition sponsored and recognized by the China government, he may enjoy the priority according to the agreement signed by the foreign country and China, the international treaties to which both countries are parties or the principle of mutual recognition.
Where priority is claimed, a written statement shall be made when filing an application for trademark registration, and a copy of the first application for trademark registration shall be submitted within three months; Failing to submit a written statement or a copy of the trademark registration application documents within the time limit shall be deemed as not claiming priority.
What are the advantages of word mark? General trademarks can contain words and patterns. But we suggest that when you apply for a registered trademark, you'd better focus on words. This is because:
When applying for a registered trademark, it is mainly to inquire about existing trademarks (registered and unregistered). It is difficult to judge whether your trademark pattern is the same or similar to the existing trademark pattern. There is no doubt that adding trademark patterns to trademark registration greatly improves the probability of rejection of registered trademark applications. At the same time, even if your application is approved, the possibility of others suing you for trademark infringement will greatly increase in the future. For example, McDonald's has successfully prevented other trademarks from using gold bow patterns similar to its trademarks in court several times. This means that the owners of these trademarks must give up their current registered trademarks, redesign and apply for new registered trademarks;
One of the most important criteria to judge whether a trademark is similar is to see whether its words are similar to those in other trademarks. If you successfully register a word mark, you have actually deprived others of the right to use the same name to promote their products or services, no matter how different their trademarks are from yours. This has actually achieved the purpose of your trademark registration;
Except for a few trademarks with huge investment and special design, it is generally difficult for people to remember the pattern of a trademark and establish the connection between the trademark pattern and the product or service on this basis. What your customers can remember is the literal content of your trademark. Registering in word mark can get twice the result with half the effort;
When using a registered trademark in the future, you can use the registered trademark (with logo) together with the unregistered trademark. Intuitively, this is not much different from registering a trademark pattern with words.
And another advantage of this is that if you need to modify the trademark pattern in the future, you don't need to apply for a new trademark. History has proved that the frequency of trademark pattern modification is much greater than that of trademark text modification.
Of course, if the logo you designed is really different and has great market value, you should include it when you apply for trademark registration. Another feasible method is to register the design trademark separately from word mark. In this way, even if the registration of the design trademark is rejected, or the design trademark is challenged by others' trademark infringement in the future, it will not affect your registered word mark.
The above is the trademark registration of Kunshan Company provided by Bian Xiao. I hope you like it!