(1) filing an application for trademark registration as required
Citizens, legal persons or other organizations shall, in accordance with the provisions of China's Trademark Law and its implementing regulations, submit an application for trademark registration and relevant documents to the Trademark Office of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, and pay the fees. This procedure is called "trademark registration application".
Applying for trademark registration is the prerequisite and necessary procedure for obtaining the exclusive right to use a trademark. Therefore, the parties concerned must make the application conform to the provisions of the Trademark Law and the Regulations for the Implementation of the Trademark Law, otherwise the Trademark Office will not accept it. Generally speaking, an application for trademark registration shall meet the following conditions.
1. The applicant for trademark registration is qualified to apply for trademark registration.
At present, there are few restrictions on the qualification of trademark subject in China. According to Articles 4 and 17 of the Trademark Law, the applicant for trademark registration can be a natural person, a legal person or any other organization, and foreigners and foreign enterprises can also become the applicants for trademark registration according to the laws of China or relevant international agreements and treaties.
2. Submit an application for trademark registration in the prescribed way.
Domestic trademark registration applicants can apply for trademark registration in the following two ways: first, trademark registration applicants can entrust trademark agencies to apply for trademark registration; Second, the trademark applicant can also apply for trademark registration directly at the Trademark Office with his ID card, a letter of introduction from the company and a copy of the business license or a copy of the business license signed by the issuing authority.
Foreigners or foreign enterprises must entrust a trademark agency recognized by the state to handle trademark registration applications and other related matters.
3. The application for trademark registration is completed.
To apply for trademark registration, an application for trademark registration and other documents shall be submitted to the Trademark Office. The specific requirements are:
(1) The applicant must submit an application for trademark registration in accordance with the principle of one application for one trademark for one kind of goods. In other words, the goods or services declared by an application can only be limited to one category in the international classification of goods and services registered by trademarks. Where a trademark agency is entrusted to handle the matter on its behalf, a copy of the power of attorney for trademark agency shall also be submitted.
(2) The application for trademark registration shall be filled in neatly, and the name and address of the applicant shall be accurate.
(3) Each application shall be accompanied by 10 color trademark and trademark pattern (specified color), and 10 color pattern and 1 black and white ink draft shall be submitted).
(4) Where a copy of the business license of the enterprise is produced or a copy of the business license signed by the issuing authority is provided, and a registered trademark is applied in the name of a natural person, the corresponding identity documents shall be provided.
(5) The application documents shall be in Chinese, and the foreign language documents shall be accompanied by a Chinese translation.
(6) Where a portrait of a person is used as a trademark to apply for registration, the applicant shall provide a power of attorney from the owner of the portrait, which shall be notarized by a notary office.
(7) Where a foreign applicant claims priority, the country, date and application number of the initial application shall be filled in the application form, and the documents claiming priority shall be submitted to the Trademark Office within three months. If it is not submitted within the time limit, it shall be deemed that priority has not been claimed.
(8) To apply for the registration of a collective trademark or a certification trademark, it is necessary to provide the corresponding articles of association and subject qualification certificate.
4. Pay the trademark registration fee as required.
There is a charge for applying for trademark registration. At present, the charging standard is 65,438+0,000 yuan for each trademark registration application when the following 65,438+00 commodities are specified. After more than 10 species, the excess will be charged 1 0,000 yuan. If the fee is not paid, the Trademark Office will not accept its application.
If the application for trademark registration meets the above requirements after examination by the Trademark Office, that is, the application procedures are complete and the application documents are filled in as required, the application number will be compiled and a notice of acceptance will be issued. The date of application of the applicant shall be the date when the Trademark Office receives the application documents. As China implements the principle of applying first, the date of application for trademark registration is particularly important for applicants.
(2) Choose a trademark that can be registered.
At present, the Trademark Office receives more than 200,000 applications for trademark registration every year, but not all of them are approved for registration, and about 10% of them are rejected because the trademark does not meet the registration requirements. Therefore, if the applicant wants to improve the success rate of registration, it is necessary to know as much as possible the requirements of the law for registered trademarks and make necessary search queries before applying.
1. The trademark applied for registration shall be distinctive, and prohibited words and graphics shall not be used.
Article 9 of the Trademark Law stipulates that "a trademark applying for registration shall have distinctive features and be easy to identify". The requirement that a trademark must have distinctive features is determined by its identification function. When a trademark is used in the market, consumers should clearly know that it is a trademark, not a decoration or explanation. Therefore, trademarks must have distinctive features and be easy to identify.
Except for distinctiveness, according to Articles 10 and 11 of the Trademark Law, a trademark may not use the following words and figures:
(1) It is forbidden to use the same or similar trademarks as the national name, national flag, national emblem, military flag and medal of People's Republic of China (PRC).
(2) It is forbidden to use trademarks that are identical with or similar to foreign names, national flags, national emblems and military flags. Except those agreed by the government.
(3) identical with or similar to the name, flag or emblem of an intergovernmental international organization. Except with the consent of the organization or not easy to mislead the public.
(4) identical with or similar to the official mark or inspection mark indicating the implementation of control and guarantee. Except those authorized.
(5) identical with or similar to the symbols and names of the Red Cross and the Red Crescent.
(6) the common name and figure of the commodity.
The generic name of this commodity refers to the name of a certain kind of commodity commonly used in a certain range. It is forbidden to use the common name and figure of a commodity as the trademark of the commodity, on the one hand, because it cannot distinguish different operators and is not significant; On the other hand, it is to prevent generic names and graphics from being monopolized unfairly.
However, this name or figure can be approved if it is combined with prominent signs to apply for registration.
(seven) directly indicating the quality, main raw materials, functions, uses, weight, quantity and other characteristics of the goods.
Words or graphics that directly indicate the quality, main raw materials, functions, uses, weight and quantity of goods or services are descriptive words or graphics commonly used by operators in their goods or services, which belong to the category of * * * *, and exclusive monopoly should be prohibited. If the words or graphics of a trademark indirectly describe or only imply the quality of the goods or services it uses, or other parts of the trademark are significant, it can be registered.
(8) ethnic discrimination.
(9) exaggerating propaganda is deceptive.
The words, graphics or their combination of trademarks exaggerate and publicize the quality, main raw materials, functions, uses, weight and quantity of the goods and services used by them, which are deceptive and are prohibited from being used as trademarks. But those who exaggerate but are not deceptive are not subject to this restriction.
(10) is harmful to socialist morality or has other adverse effects.
Any behavior that violates social public interests and public order and socialist morality is prohibited by this clause.
(1 1) The geographical names of administrative divisions at or above the county level or foreign geographical names known to the public shall not be used as trademarks, except that the geographical names have other meaning or are part of collective trademarks or certification trademarks.
Geographical name trademarks are easily regarded as indicating that goods and services come from a certain place, lacking the function of distinguishing different operators and not suitable for monopoly. Therefore, it is one of the international practices to prohibit the use of place names as trademarks.
In addition to the above, the Trademark Law also requires that the trademark applied for registration shall not infringe upon other people's prior rights such as copyright and patent right of design, and shall not copy or imitate other people's well-known trademarks.
2. Before submitting an application for trademark registration, the prior right shall be searched.
Article 17 of the Trademark Law requires, in addition to the requirements of distinctiveness and prohibition clauses, that the trademark applied for registration shall not be the same as or similar to the trademark registered or preliminarily approved by others on the same or similar goods, otherwise the Trademark Office will reject the application. This is what we say: the trademark applied for registration shall not conflict with the prior trademark right. Whether it constitutes a conflict depends on whether the trademark applied for registration and the goods designated for use by the trademark with prior rights belong to the same or similar goods, and whether the two trademarks are the same or similar can be judged from the overall structure, pronunciation and meaning of the trademarks.
The same trademark refers to a trademark whose characters, graphics or their combinations are visually indistinguishable or slightly different.
A similar trademark refers to a trademark whose pronunciation, meaning or overall structure are different, but it is difficult for people to distinguish it and it is easy for consumers to misunderstand it.
Whether it is the same commodity or not is judged according to the same degree of function, use, performance and raw materials of the commodity. Generally speaking, if the names are the same or different, the goods referred to are naturally the same kind of goods. Commodities with different raw materials and appearances, but essentially the same for sales purposes, are also regarded as similar commodities.
Two or more commodities are similar in functions, uses, raw materials used and sales places. If the same or similar trademarks are used, it will easily lead to misunderstanding and purchase by consumers, and make consumers mistakenly think that the goods produced by the same enterprise belong to the same kind of goods. It should be noted that the similarity of goods is constantly changing. With the continuous updating of products and the constant changes of commodity uses and sales channels, it is possible to judge that it is a similar commodity rather than a similar commodity.
In order to prevent the application for trademark registration from being rejected because of the conflict with the prior trademark right, the applicant had better search the prior trademark right before submitting the application. At present, all trademark agencies represent this business, and applicants can also directly go to the Trademark Office for retrieval. After searching, no prior rights are found, and the applicant can safely submit an application for trademark registration.
I. Brief description
Where a natural person, legal person or other organization needs to obtain the exclusive right to use a trademark for goods or services produced, manufactured, processed, selected or distributed, it shall file an application for trademark registration with the Trademark Office of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (hereinafter referred to as the Trademark Office) according to law. There are 45 categories of goods and services registered by trademarks, including 34 categories of goods and 1 1 services. Designate the trademarks used for commodities as commodity trademarks and the trademarks used for services as service trademarks.
Second, the way to deal with it.
There are two ways to apply for registration of a commodity trademark or a service trademark:
(1) Entrust a nationally recognized trademark agency to handle it.
(2) The applicant goes directly to the trademark registration hall of the Trademark Office.
Third, the processing steps
(1) Where a trademark agency is entrusted, the applicant may voluntarily choose a trademark agency recognized by the state to handle it. All trademark agencies registered in the Trademark Office are published in the column of "Agencies".
(2) If the applicant goes directly to the trademark registration hall of the Trademark Office, he can go through the following steps:
Inquire before applying for trademark registration (optional procedure) → Prepare the application → Submit the application in the acceptance window of the trademark registration hall → Enter the receipt barcode in the coding window → Pay the trademark registration fee in the payment window → The Trademark Office will issue an acceptance notice in about one month → Make corrections to the trademark registration application (optional procedure).
4. Pre-application investigation (optional procedure)
It takes about 1.5 years for a trademark to apply for registration. If the application for trademark registration is rejected, on the one hand, the trademark registration fee will be lost, on the other hand, it will take about 1.5 years to reapply for registered trademarks, and it is still unknown whether the reapplication can be approved for registration. Therefore, before applying for a registered trademark, the applicant had better make a trademark inquiry, know the prior rights, and make a judgment according to the inquiry results before submitting the application. Where a trademark agency is entrusted to apply for trademark registration, the trademark agency shall be responsible for the inquiry. (See "Inquiries before trademark registration application" for details. )
Verb (abbreviation of verb) Preparation of trademark registration application documents
(1) To apply for trademark registration in the name of a legal person or other organization, the following application documents shall be submitted:
1. Application for trademark registration with the official seal of the applicant.
2. 5. Trademark patterns, with clear patterns, with the length and width of specifications not less than 5cm and not more than10cm. If a color is specified, there are five color patterns, and a black and white ink draft is attached.
3. Go directly to the trademark registration hall, submit a copy of the applicant's business license and show the original business license; If the original business license cannot be produced, the applicant's seal must be affixed to the copy of the applicant's business license. Where a trademark agency is entrusted to act as an agent, a copy of the applicant's business license shall be submitted.
4. Go directly to the trademark registration hall and submit the agent's ID card and a copy; Where a trademark agency is entrusted, a power of attorney for trademark agency shall be submitted.
5. If the trademark applied for registration is a portrait of a person, it shall be accompanied by a notarized statement that the portrait owner agrees to use the portrait as a trademark registration.
(2) A natural person applying for trademark registration shall submit the following application documents:
1. Application for trademark registration signed by the applicant.
2. 5. Trademark patterns, with clear patterns, with the length and width of specifications not less than 5cm and not more than10cm. If a color is specified, there are five color patterns, and a black and white ink draft is attached.
3. Go directly to the trademark registration hall, submit a copy of the applicant's ID card or passport, and show the original ID card or passport; Where a trademark agency is entrusted, a power of attorney for trademark agency and a copy of the applicant's ID card shall be submitted.
4. Where the trademark applied for registration is a portrait of a person, a notarized statement that the portrait owner agrees to use the portrait as a trademark registration shall be attached.
(3) Specific requirements for filling in an application for trademark registration
1. According to Article 15 of the Regulations for the Implementation of the Trademark Law, the application for trademark registration and other relevant documents shall be typed or printed. For handwritten trademark applications, the Trademark Office will not accept them;
2. The name and address of the applicant for trademark registration shall be filled in according to the business license. If the address in the business license does not indicate the name of the province, city or county where the enterprise is located, the applicant must add the name of the province, city or county before its address. The official seal shall be completely consistent with the enterprise name on the business license;
3, goods or services should be in accordance with the "classification of goods and services" or "similar goods and services to distinguish the table" to fill in the name of the specification, an application can only fill in a class of goods or services. If the commodity name or service item is not included in the classification table, a description of the commodity or service item shall be attached.
4. If the applicant is a natural person, the applicant's name and ID number shall be filled in after the name; The address of the applicant can be filled in with the actual address or mailing address of a natural person.
5. If the trademark applied for registration is not a three-dimensional trademark, a color group trademark or a trademark, the applicant shall tick "√" in the box before "General" in the trademark category column.
The intransitive verb pays the trademark registration fee.
Within a category of 10 commodity name or service item, the fee for each trademark registration application is 1000 yuan, and if it exceeds 10 (excluding 10), each item will be charged 100 yuan.
Where a trademark agency is entrusted, the applicant shall pay the trademark registration fee and agency fee to the trademark agency, and the trademark registration fee charged by the Trademark Office shall be deducted from the advance payment of the trademark agency.
VII. Procedures for applying for trademark registration (non-essential procedures)
(a) a brief description
1. Where an application for trademark registration is made directly in the trademark registration hall, the application procedures are basically complete or the application documents basically meet the requirements, but it needs to be corrected, the Trademark Office shall notify the applicant in writing to make corrections. The applicant shall, within 30 days from the date of receiving the notice, make corrections according to the specified contents and return them to the Trademark Office. If no correction is made within the time limit, the application shall be deemed to have been abandoned.
2. Where a trademark agency is entrusted to apply for trademark registration, the application procedures are basically complete or the application documents basically meet the requirements, but need to be corrected, the Trademark Office shall notify the trademark agency in writing to make corrections. The trademark agency shall, within 30 days from the date of receiving the notice, make corrections according to the specified contents and return them to the Trademark Office. If no correction is made within the time limit, the application shall be deemed to have been abandoned.
(2) Precautions
1. When the applicant makes corrections to non-standard and unspecified goods or services as required, it may make corrections or delete them. At the time of revision, the specification name should still be filled in the form of distinguishing similar goods and services, but the scope of goods or services should not be expanded.
2. Where the trademark pattern is unclear or the trademark description should be filled in, the applicant shall make corrections according to the requirements of the Trademark Office, and shall not make substantial changes to the trademark, otherwise it will be deemed invalid.
3. If the applicant makes corrections as required, it shall be stamped with the official seal of the applicant. If the applicant is a natural person, it shall be signed by himself. Where a trademark agency is entrusted to apply for trademark registration, the official seal of the trademark agency shall be affixed.
Eight, part of the trademark registration application rejection procedures (non-essential procedures)
(a) a brief description
Article 21 of the Regulations on the Implementation of the Trademark Law stipulates that the Trademark Office shall preliminarily examine and approve the applications for trademark registration accepted, and make an announcement if the applications for trademark registration of some designated commodities meet the requirements; If the application for registration of trademark use on some designated commodities does not meet the requirements, the application for registration of trademark use on some designated commodities shall be rejected, and the applicant shall be notified in writing and the reasons shall be explained. Where the Trademark Office preliminarily examines and approves the application for trademark registration on some designated commodities, the applicant may apply for abandoning the application for trademark registration on some designated commodities before the expiration of the objection period; Where an application is made to abandon the registration application for using a trademark on the goods specified in this part, the Trademark Office will withdraw the original preliminary examination and approval, terminate the examination procedure and make a new announcement. Therefore, this procedure is not a necessary procedure for substantive examination of trademarks.
(2) treatment
The notice of partial rejection of trademark registration is printed by the Trademark Office and sent directly to the applicant by registered mail. If it is represented by a trademark agency, it shall be sent to the trademark agency (except for the self-invitation).
If the notice of partial rejection of trademark registration is not delivered to the applicant or trademark agency for some reason and is returned by the post office, the Trademark Office will publish the Notice of Partial Rejection of Trademark Registration in the Trademark Announcement, which will be deemed to have been delivered within 20 days from the date of announcement. If you go through the relevant formalities in the Trademark Office within/0/5 days from the date of service, you will be allowed to resume legal procedures, otherwise it will be regarded as giving up your rights.
Nine, matters needing attention
1. When filling out the application for trademark registration, the applicant shall fill in the address according to the business license. After submitting the application, the Trademark Office will send it to the applicant by registered mail at this address if there are any matters such as correction, rejection or partial rejection, preliminary examination and announcement, and obtaining the trademark registration certificate. If the applicant's actual address does not match the business license address, it shall change the business license address before submitting the application. If the address changes after the application for trademark registration is submitted, the application for address change can be handled with the changed business license and corresponding procedures. If the applicant's address is not postal, it is best to entrust a trademark agency to handle trademark registration applications and other matters.
2. After receiving the application, the Trademark Office, after formal examination, considers that the formalities are complete and the specifications are filled in, and generally sends the Notice of Acceptance to the applicant by registered mail one month later. Where an application for trademark registration is entrusted to a trademark agency, the Trademark Office will mail the Notice of Acceptance to the trademark agency. The notice of acceptance only indicates that the application for trademark registration has been accepted by the Trademark Office, but it does not mean that the application has been approved.
3. If the application for trademark registration is rejected, the applicant may apply to the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce for reexamination within 15 days from the date of receiving the notice of rejection.
4. If the trademark applied for registration is challenged, and the applicant is not satisfied with the ruling of the Trademark Office, he may apply to the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce for reexamination within 15 days from the date of receiving the ruling of objection.
5. It takes about 1.5 years for a trademark to apply for a trademark registration certificate without any application for correction or objection. Where an application for trademark registration is directly made in the trademark registration hall after the trademark is approved and registered, the Trademark Office shall send a Notice of Obtaining a Trademark Registration Certificate according to the name and address of the applicant filled in the application for trademark registration; Where an application for trademark registration is entrusted to a trademark agency, the Trademark Office will mail the Notice of Obtaining a Trademark Registration Certificate to the trademark agency.
6. If the applicant has not received any information within 1 year and a half from the date of submitting the application for trademark registration, he can make a free inquiry to the Trademark Office after applying for trademark registration. An application for trademark registration entrusted by a trademark agency must be inquired by the trademark agency free of charge after filing a trademark application with the Trademark Office. (See "How to inquire after trademark application" for details. )
7. A trademark after the application is filed but before the registration is approved is still an unregistered trademark, and it must still be used as an unregistered trademark. Where the use of a trademark infringes upon the exclusive right of others to use a trademark, it shall not affect the investigation and punishment of the act by the relevant administrative authorities for industry and commerce.
8. If the applicant needs to inquire about the trademark, he can go to the inquiry window of the trademark registration hall before applying. The prior right information provided by the inquiry is only for the reference of the inquirer.
9. The period of validity of a registered trademark is 10 years, counting from the date of approval of registration. Where it is necessary to continue to use a registered trademark after its expiration, the registrant shall apply for renewal of registration within 6 months before the expiration. If the registrant fails to apply for renewal within this period, he may apply for renewal within a grace period of 6 months after the expiration, but he shall pay a late fee for renewal of registration. If no application for renewal is filed at the expiration of the extension period, the Trademark Office will cancel the registered trademark; If the registrant wants to continue to use the registered trademark, he must apply for registration again.