Trademarks are like a bridge that communicates between enterprises and consumers. Enterprises hope that a certain trademark will establish a unique connection with themselves and no longer be owned by other products or businesses. In this way, consumers can recognize the trademark through the trademark. Know the enterprise. However, in real life, since the category must be determined when registering a trademark, cross-category trademark disputes often occur. So, how can we achieve cross-category protection of trademarks?

First of all, trademarks and logos should be carefully selected when registering.

Preliminary preparation work is often the basis for later protection work. It is obviously not wise to choose a word that has been widely used as a trademark. For example, COFCO Group uses "Great Wall" as its trademark on wine. In China, there are too many companies using "Great Wall" as their product trademarks. The more well-known ones include Great Wall Fans, Great Wall Motors, Great Wall Lubricants, etc. Therefore, even if Great Wall Wine is recognized as a well-known trademark, it cannot prevent others from using the trademark because others have already registered it.

Trademarks are commercial marks that highlight the source and quality of goods. When COFCO Group spends money and energy to promote Great Wall wine, the Great Wall trademark registered on other goods will also benefit from it. This is The so-called "famous brand" is just a legal name brand, which belongs to oneself and allows others to copy it. On the contrary, if some "Great Wall" brand products are shoddily manufactured and harm consumers, then the destructive power to the "Great Wall" brand will be very great. The company may need to repeatedly promote this "Great Wall" and not the other "Great Wall" and try its best to draw the line. Clear boundaries.

Secondly, if you have the corresponding strength, try to register the trademark in all categories, that is, register it in every category of the commodity classification table.

Full-class registration has the following benefits:

First, it can prevent others from registering trademarks on industries and products that they may enter in the future.

When a company registers a trademark, it often chooses the type of goods it currently produces or the type of goods it plans to produce for registration. However, as the company develops, it may deviate from the expected development direction. Production and operations The scope will expand to industries or products that were not planned before. At this time, you may find that the trademark you have used for many years has been registered by others in this field. Therefore, it is very important to prepare for a rainy day.

Second, it can prevent others from registering trademarks on types of goods with conflicting properties and uses.

Symbols have a conductive function. For example, "Master Kong" is the trademark of instant noodles. If someone else registers the "Master Kong" trademark on sanitary ware, will it have a negative impact on "Master Kong" instant noodles? A wedding dress If the trademark of a photo studio is also registered in the funeral industry, will it cause some taboos for newcomers?

However, trademark owners generally cannot prevent others from registering trademarks on other categories of goods. This is something the trademark owner does not want to see. Therefore, full class registration is the best way to prevent this phenomenon.

Of course, the cost of registering a full class is relatively high, and in order to prevent the phenomenon of registration without use, the Trademark Law stipulates that if there is no actual use for more than three years, others can apply to cancel the registered trademark, which also needs to be considered. and a risk to plan for.

But in any case, registration of all categories can win at least three years. In the rapidly changing market, three years is also very precious.

Finally, companies should strive to make their trademarks well-known.

Through long-term use, trademarks can maintain the quality of goods and improve goodwill, and eventually an ordinary trademark can become a well-known trademark. This is the ultimate way for enterprises to protect trademarks across categories. According to the provisions of our country's laws, even if the logo of a well-known trademark is used on different product categories, if it is likely to cause confusion, registration will not be granted and use will be stopped.

If a trademark has become a well-known trademark, such as Coca-Cola, then the necessity of full class registration is greatly reduced.

However, most trademarks are on the road to becoming well-known trademarks. In this case, how to create well-known trademarks while providing cross-class protection?

In addition to careful selection In addition to registering a full class trademark or registering a joint trademark, companies should try not to change trademarks, maintain the quality of their products, and conduct continuous publicity. After a certain amount of goodwill has been established, you still need to register to fight counterfeiting and protect your rights.

Because counterfeit goods not only erode corporate profits, but more seriously, they damage the goodwill and value of the brand.