In the past, due to the low awareness of brand protection of brand managers in China, there have been many painful lessons such as the theft of traditional craft secrets and the squatting of famous brands. Below I have prepared an article about brand protection for you. Welcome to reading.
1. Trademark registration
The main form of brand intellectual property is trademark right. Because of the exclusiveness of trademark right, trademark is the monopoly advantage of enterprises in legal nature. The strength of this monopoly advantage is directly proportional to the popularity of the trademark. The greater the popularity of a trademark, the stronger the monopoly advantage, and the more the enterprise with the trademark can obtain excess profits. Because of its excellent reputation, well-known trademarks have universal influence in the minds of consumers and are great wealth of enterprises.
However, some enterprises lack the awareness of brand protection, which leads to the registration of many well-known brands. At present, the main problems faced by brand development are counterfeiting famous brands, trademark squatting and? Next to the famous brand? . The phenomenon that some famous trademarks have been registered is also extremely serious: Tong Ren Tang? 、? Bamboo leaf green? 、? Dog ignore? Waiting to be squatted by the Japanese; ? Tsingtao beer? Be squatted in the United States; ? Hongtashan? 、? Cloud? Being squatted in the Philippines; Trademarks of China enterprises such as Hisense were registered in Germany by competitor Siemens. Registered trademarks have caused great losses to the intangible assets of enterprises, made it difficult to open the market, and may be accused of infringement.
The first thing to do in the legal protection of group brands is the registration of group trade names. Trade name mainly refers to the part of its enterprise name used by operators engaged in production and business activities when registering. They are the specific signs and names of factories, shops, companies, groups and other enterprises, and enjoy exclusive rights according to law. The right of trade name belongs to the category of industrial property rights defined in the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property Rights. Trade names obtained through legal registration are protected by law.
In the legal protection of organizations, it is necessary to register not only their names, but also their abbreviations, fonts, patterns, standard colors and auxiliary colors in Chinese and English. You can't just register in one place, but also consider the principle of priority in different countries to register abroad first to prevent others from infringing.
2. Cherish trademark rights
After an enterprise obtains the exclusive right to use a trademark according to law, it should also pay attention to the following four issues:
(1) registered trademarks are never out of date, please pay attention to renewal. Trademark rights are eternal, valid only within the statutory time limit and protected by law. Once the validity period expires, the trademark right will be lost and will no longer be protected by law. Therefore, enterprises should renew their trademarks before the expiration of the validity period. The period of validity of a registered trademark is 10 year, and the period of validity of each subsequent renewal is 10 year, and the number of renewals is unlimited.
(2) Consult trademark announcements regularly and raise objections in time. Trademark announcement is a necessary procedure for trademark registration and a way for enterprises to remedy their rights. Article 30 of China's Trademark Law stipulates that anyone may raise an objection to a trademark that has been preliminarily approved within three months from the date of announcement. If there is no objection at the expiration of the announcement period, the registration shall be approved, a trademark registration certificate shall be issued and an announcement shall be made. ? Therefore, enterprises should consult trademark announcements regularly, and once they find any infringement, they should raise objections in time, collect evidence of objections and protect their legitimate rights and interests to the maximum extent.
(3) Trademark right transfer and trademark change shall be registered with * *. According to the provisions of China's Trademark Law, if a registered trademark has the following three situations, it must go through the registration formalities with the Trademark Office: changing the name, address or other registered items of the registered trademark registrant; * * Registered trademark.
(4) When the joint venture is in transition, the protection of trademarks is particularly important. Enterprise transformation will also encounter the problem of trademark ownership. There are two main situations: one is that enterprises ignore the value of trademark registration, do not make quantitative evaluation and pricing, do not participate in the transformation of registered trademarks as enterprise assets, and easily give them to the transformed enterprises for free, resulting in the loss of state-owned and collective assets, which is more common; On the other hand, the enterprise did not mention the ownership of registered trademarks in the reorganization contract, which made the ownership of trademark rights vague and the property rights unclear, resulting in future economic disputes.
Dongfang Electric Group, Sinochem Group, General Technology Group, SDIC, China Aviation Materials and other enterprises have established relatively perfect trademark strategies and actively promoted the specialization, institutionalization and standardization of trademark management. WISCO, China Minmetals, China Commercial Aircraft and other enterprises have strengthened the registration and protection of overseas trademarks, and the registered areas are all over the world. China National Grain Storage Corporation, sinosteel, Sinotrans Changhang, China Aviation Oil and other enterprises have established effective monitoring mechanisms for trademark offices to protect their rights and interests from infringement, which is typical in trademark protection.
3. Use license
Electrolux, a world-renowned electrical appliance company, invested 450 million Swedish kronor (1 US dollar is equivalent to 7.63 Swedish kronor) to buy back in the United States 32 years ago. Electrolux? Trademark use right; Ericsson Group of Sweden started to build an intelligent residential building in Stockholm in cooperation with JM Construction Company.
Brand license, also known as trademark license, refers to the act of allowing others to use their brands through legal procedures. The owner of the brand is called the licensor, and the party licensed to use the brand becomes the licensee. Licensing others to use the brand is an important right of the licensor. Unlike the brand * *, licensing others to use its brand does not lead to the change of the brand subject, and the brand is still owned by the licensor. According to the brand use license, the licensor can get the brand use fee, and the licensee can get the brand use right according to the agreement.
Group brand authorization includes authorized subsidiaries, branches and affiliated companies. At the same time, we should not forget their rights and obligations. Brand authorization should have a clear purpose, not just authorization, so authorization is not guaranteed, and the value of authorized brands will decrease instead of increase. Authorization is a means for us to gain benefits, not a channel for the outflow of brand assets. When authorizing, group brands should not forget to sign an authorization contract. The terms of the contract generally include: the validity of the authorization contract; The problem of licensor's out-of-scope license; Legal liability of licensor and licensee for breach of contract; Termination of the contract, etc.
4. Maintain brand rights and interests
Protect brand rights and interests according to law? Brand care? Important aspects of. China Southern Airlines Group made a quick response to foreign malicious registered trademark incidents and successfully stopped the infringement. China Resources Group has established a working contact mechanism with local industrial and commercial authorities, which has been used nationwide. China resources? The number of enterprises was checked, which effectively safeguarded the safety of China Resources brand. China Petroleum and China Petrochemical made great efforts to forge company trademarks. Among them, China Petrochemical 20 12 bought 37 1 counterfeit gas stations, effectively safeguarding the rights and interests of consumers and corporate brands.
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