After the trademark registration is successful, can we change it ourselves? Can I include national flag promotion in my trademark? Prove that we are a national brand! Bajie Intellectual Property and Trademark Network is here to tell you that this is not allowed. If the advertising effect is good, the penalty effect will be even better. If you don’t have enough knowledge, you can collect the fine!
It turns out that the trademark graphic of Classic Teddy’s milk tea shop is like this!
The shape of a cute animal is quite cute!
Some changes were made later!
As soon as you take a look, you can feel the British style of red and blue. The addition of the British flag naturally greatly enhances the advertising effect!
And we have also made certain changes in employee clothing!
But the national flag cannot be used indiscriminately!
National flag
The national flag is an iconic flag of the country and a symbol of the country! It reflects the political characteristics and historical and cultural traditions of a country through certain styles, colors and patterns. Generally, the flag of other countries is not allowed to be flown at will on the territory of a sovereign country.
Introduction to the case
In March 2018, the former Nanjing Administration for Industry and Commerce of Jiangsu Province received a report claiming that Jiangsu Katie Food Co., Ltd. used the British flag as a trademark in its business activities. Use is suspected of violating the relevant provisions of the Trademark Law. The former Nanjing Administration for Industry and Commerce immediately opened a case for investigation.
After investigation, the party involved, Jiangsu Katie Food Co., Ltd., has been using No. 21621450 and No. 21388082 in "cafe" and other services since November 2016, with the authorization of Taiwan Longqiao International Co., Ltd. No., 21388149 and 10904562 and other registered trademarks, engaged in milk tea business.
In order to package products using trademarks such as "Classic Teddy's Milk Tea Shop" as products from the United Kingdom and increase consumers' trust in the brand, the parties involved made unauthorized use of No. 21388082 and The British flag is added to the design of trademark No. 21388149, and is widely used in office investment promotion and store management activities. The parties also designed and produced an investment and franchising webpage with the British flag trademark and related text descriptions to carry out online investment and franchising business. By the time of the incident, the parties concerned had cooperated with others to open three chain stores in core commercial districts, with a total turnover of 4.541 million yuan.
The case-handling authority determined that the parties’ actions constituted the use of signs “identical or similar to foreign country names, national flags, national emblems, military flags, etc.” as specified in Article 10, Paragraph 1, Item (2) of the Trademark Law In accordance with Article 52 of the Trademark Law, the parties will be ordered to immediately stop the illegal behavior and be fined 317,900 yuan for administrative penalties.
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Article 10 The following signs shall not Use as trademarks:
(1) Those that are identical or similar to the country name, national flag, national emblem, national anthem, military flag, military emblem, military anthem, medals, etc. of the People's Republic of China, as well as those that are the same as those of the Central Government The name, logo of the agency, the name of the specific place where it is located, or the name or graphics of the landmark building are the same;
(2) It is the same as or similar to the name, national flag, national emblem, military flag, etc. of a foreign country, Except with the consent of the government of that country;
Article 52 If an unregistered trademark is used as a registered trademark, or the use of an unregistered trademark violates the provisions of Article 10 of this Law, it shall be managed by the local industrial and commercial administration The department shall stop it, make corrections within a time limit, and may issue a notice. If the illegal business volume exceeds 50,000 yuan, a fine of not more than 20% of the illegal business volume may be imposed. If there is no illegal business volume or the illegal business volume is less than 50,000 yuan, a fine of not more than 20% of the illegal business volume may be imposed. A fine of not more than RMB 10,000 shall be imposed.
Article 49 If a trademark registrant changes the registered trademark, the registrant’s name, address or other registration matters on his own during the use of the registered trademark, the local industrial and commercial administrative department shall order him to make corrections within a time limit; If it fails to make corrections, the Trademark Office will revoke its registered trademark.
The parties involved in this case used trademarks and text descriptions with the British flag in stores, web pages and other places without authorization, trying to package their products as so-called foreign brands, causing consumers to misunderstand the source of the brand, and causing harm to consumers. Franchisees cause economic losses. Law enforcement officers give full play to the role of online platforms, promptly fix online evidence, effectively implement precise supervision, and implement simultaneous online and offline crackdowns.
Summary
After a trademark is successfully registered, the registrant is not allowed to change its registered trademark on its own, otherwise it will violate the Trademark Law. The flag is just one of them. If you want to use the national emblem, military flag, red cross, red crescent, official logo, inspection mark, etc., you can't use it if you want. If we want to fight against the law or test the law personally, then we can only accept the "sanction" of the law!