In trademark application, one of the most common reasons for trademark rejection is trademark approximation, so how to judge whether a trademark is approximate? Today, Enterprise Bian Xiao will tell you about the judgment rules of combination trademark approximation, hoping to help you.

1. What is a combined trademark?

A combined trademark refers to a trademark composed of any two or more of the six elements of "words, graphics, letters, numbers, three-dimensional signs and colors". For example, KFC's trademark is a combination of letters, graphics and colors.

Second, the approximate judgment rules of combined trademarks

For combined trademarks consisting of words, figures, letters, numbers, three-dimensional signs and colors, the Trademark Office usually takes them apart and examines them separately. As long as there is an element that is the same as or similar to the elements in other people's trademarks, the combined trademark will be rejected.

Third, the approximate judgment method of combined trademark

(1) The Chinese characters of a trademark are the same or similar, which easily confuses the relevant public about the source of goods or services, and the trademark will be judged as an approximate trademark.

(2) If the foreign language, letters and numbers of a trademark are the same or similar, which may easily confuse the relevant public with the source of goods or services, the trademark will be judged as an approximate trademark.

However, if the overall meaning and appearance of a trademark are obviously different from the previous trademark, and the public is not easy to confuse the source of goods or services, the trademark will not be judged as an approximate trademark.

(3) If the main meanings of a trademark in Chinese and other languages are the same or basically the same, which may easily confuse the public with the source of goods or services, the trademark will be judged as an approximate trademark.

(4) If the graphic parts of a trademark are similar, which may easily confuse the public with the source of goods or services, the trademark will be judged as an approximate trademark.

(5) If the characters and graphics of a trademark are different, but the arrangement and combination methods or the things described are basically the same, which may easily confuse the public with the source of goods or services, the trademark will be judged as an approximate trademark.

I hope that everyone can fully understand the rules of the Trademark Office to determine whether the combined trademarks are similar, so as to apply what they have learned when designing trademarks in the future, thus improving the success rate of trademark registration!