When the industrial and commercial departments investigate cases of counterfeit registered trademarks, you can often see the parties holding a trademark registration application "Acceptance Notice" issued by the State Trademark Office, saying that their trademark has been registered and it cannot be counterfeit. Registered trademark. These parties are guilty of not understanding the trademark registration procedures and confusing the concepts of acceptance of trademark registration applications and trademark approval and registration. There are many steps for a newly applied trademark from application to certification: starting from submitting the trademark registration application, obtaining the acceptance notice, substantive examination, preliminary examination announcement, approval announcement, and finally issuance of the certification. It usually takes nearly two years, such as If someone files an objection to a trademark during the announcement period, the registration time will be longer. When a trademark registration applicant submits a complete trademark registration application to the Trademark Office, the "Notification of Acceptance" issued by the State Trademark Office is only the beginning of the trademark registration process. This notice functions like a receipt. It is a certificate given to the party after the Trademark Office receives the application. The "Notice of Acceptance" only indicates that the Trademark Office has accepted the trademark registration application, but does not indicate whether the application can be approved. In fact, a considerable number of trademark registration applications have been accepted by the Trademark Office, but were rejected after review, and ultimately failed to be registered. The document proving the legality of the use of a registered trademark is the "Trademark Registration Certificate". Therefore, the trademark is still an unregistered trademark until you obtain the trademark registration certificate. If the trademark is used on products before this time and is marked with a registered mark, it constitutes passing off a registered trademark, using an unregistered trademark to make shoddy products, passing them off as inferior, deceiving consumers, and using signs that are not allowed to be used for trademarks. As a trademark, you will be fined not more than 20% of the illegal business volume or not more than 2 times of the illegal profits. Using an unregistered trademark also carries the risk of infringing upon the exclusive rights of others to register a trademark.