Not long ago I received a call from a young writer, saying that she signed a creative contract with a cultural company five years ago. The contract stipulated that in the past five years, she would use a pen name to create, and the profits would be divided according to the agreement. , the signature rights of the pen name will belong to you after 5 years. But now the company has registered its pseudonym as a trademark without its knowledge. In this way, after the pen name becomes a trademark, it becomes unique to the cultural company. The pen name can be used as a book brand or transferred to others. However, the author can still use the pen name to create, but the publicity and promotion of his works in the future may be interfered by the fact that the pen name has been registered by others.

Our country’s laws protect citizens’ right to name, but it basically falls under the category of right to reputation and right to honor. Article 120 of the Civil Code: “Citizens whose rights to name, portrait, reputation, and honor have been infringed upon have the right to demand that the infringement be stopped, the impact eliminated, an apology made, and compensation for losses.” Currently, there is no relevant regulation in our country regarding There are clear provisions on the protection of pen names, because words do not require special protection. As a combination of words, a pen name is a symbol of identity. Although it has a certain uniqueness, it does not have copyright. Therefore, under the current conditions, the same pen name is very It may be used by multiple people at the same time, and its use as a trademark is also permitted by law.

Whether it is trademark law or copyright law, under the current legal system, after a pen name is registered as a trademark, it is difficult for the original user to retrieve the pen name. In judicial practice, there are also cases in which the pen names of well-known writers were protected after being squatted, but these writers are basically famous writers with high reputation and great social influence. Their pen names have become a cultural symbol. If these pen names are registered as trademarks, it will not be conducive to the development of cultural undertakings and will generally be stopped during the trademark publicity stage.

1. File a trademark objection with the Trademark Office to stop the registration of the trademark.

2. Go to the copyright administrative department to register the copyright of your works, register your real name and pen name simultaneously, and fight against malicious registration on the grounds that your pen name has been registered.

3. If the pen name is not maliciously registered, you can negotiate with the trademark registrant to see if you can buy back the trademark rights of the pen name and become the owner of the pen name trademark yourself.

Secondly, if a writer believes that his pen name is valuable, in addition to registering the copyright of his work with the copyright administration department, he can also register the pen name as a trademark himself, which will provide greater protection.

In view of the particularity of pen names, we hope that writers can consider many aspects, especially when signing contracts, and make more requests that are in line with their own interests. (Liu Hao)