I. Principles of applying for registration in China, foreign trademark
According to the provisions of China's Trademark Law, foreign trademark applied for registration in China. Mainly as follows:
(1) It shall be handled in accordance with the trademark reciprocity agreement signed by the applicant's country and China. Countries that have signed reciprocal trademark agreements with China include Switzerland, Denmark, Italy, Canada, New Zealand, France, Iran, Austria, Japan, Spain, Britain, Argentina, Poland, Romania, Pakistan, Liechtenstein, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, the United States, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Thailand and Germany.
(2) It shall be handled in accordance with the international treaties to which the applicant's country and China are both parties. The international treaty to which China has acceded is the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, and the member countries of this convention can apply for trademark registration in China according to this convention.
(3) It shall be handled according to the principle of reciprocity. That is to say, the two sides give each other equal treatment. If other countries allow China to register, China also allows other countries to register in China. If other countries do not require China to submit their own registration certificates, China does not require other countries to submit registration certificates. According to this principle, China has successively confirmed with Canada, Switzerland, Thailand, Austria and other countries that it is exempt from paying its own registration certificate, thus solving the problem of directly handling trademark registration with the United States.
II. Procedures for applying for registration in China, foreign trademark
Procedures that foreign trademark should follow when applying for registration in China. When foreign trademark applies for registration in China, foreigners can entrust the trademark agency established in the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, a legal trademark agency in China, to handle the relevant matters of entrustment. The specific procedures are as follows:
(1) Send one original and one copy of the power of attorney for the agent, and entrust it to the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade. The power of attorney shall be filled in with the name, address, nationality and trademark name of the client, as well as the name and authority of the agent, and the power of attorney shall be notarized in the country;
(2) Send one original and one copy of the application for trademark registration, which shall be filled in by the applicant or the Trademark Agency of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade. The application shall fill in the name, purpose, main raw materials and commodity category of the goods in detail, and the commodity category may be filled in according to the China Commodity Classification Table or the International Commodity Classification Table;
(3) Submit 15 trademark designs, 1 additional colored design and 1 black-and-white design of the specified color;
(4) Pay relevant fees, and attach relevant certification materials, such as nationality certificate, domestic registration certificate, and certificate of reciprocal agreement (all of which should be notarized or authenticated);
(5) The China Council for the Promotion of International Trade examines the documents and translates the foreign documents into Chinese, and submits them to the Trademark Office of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce for application. After being approved according to the examination procedures, the Trademark Office will publish a Trademark Announcement, and if there is no objection, it will be registered.
III. foreign trademark China Application Agency
According to Article 1 of China's Trademark Law, "foreigners or foreign enterprises applying for trademark registration and handling other trademark matters in China shall entrust an organization designated by the state to act as an agent." This provision shows that foreigners or foreign enterprises apply for trademark registration or handle other trademark matters in China, and implement the principal-agent system, entrusting domestic trademark agencies designated by China to handle them on their behalf. In many countries in the world, it is customary for foreigners or foreign enterprises to apply for trademark registration or handle other trademark affairs by agencies. At present, China's authorized agencies for foreign trademark to apply for registration and handle other trademark matters are China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, China Patent Agency (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd., China Trademark Office, Yongxin Patent and Trademark Agency Co., Ltd. (Hong Kong), Shanghai Patent Agency, Guangdong, Beijing and Shanghai Trademark Offices, etc.
The organization designated by China to handle foreign trademark's application for registration and other trademark matters is an entrusted agent, and its authority is established due to the authorization of the principal. The activities carried out by the entrusted agent within the scope of agency authority have direct legal effect on the principal.
the trademark agency system is an important part of the trademark legal system created by people in the development of commodity economy, which can better reflect the interests and will of trademark registration applicants and trademark owners, and is more conducive to strengthening the law enforcement activities of trademark management agencies and developing China's trademark cause. When the detailed rules for the implementation of the Trademark Law were revised in 1988, the domestic nuclear transformation was revised, and it was stipulated that the State Administration for Industry and Commerce could designate domestic trademark agents. This indicates that it is an inevitable trend for China's trademark legal system to develop and improve by replacing the nuclear system with the agency system.