Currently, corporate applicants often have many questions that need to be answered before registering a trademark, especially companies that are registering a trademark for the first time. Among the issues that applicants are most concerned about is the success rate of trademark registration.

Some applicants even require or expect agencies to give 100% success guarantee. What is the actual situation?

Can trademarks guarantee 100% success?

If it cannot be 100%, how can we improve the success rate? Search

In the current actual application situation:

1. There is never a 100% success rate for trademark registration, and no one (including the Director of the Trademark Office) can guarantee that the registration will be approved. , this time is determined by the objective facts in the trademark registration.

2. The reasons why it cannot be 100% are as follows:

1. Trademark search blind spots:

Before applying for a trademark, the trademark must be searched to see if there are any identical or similar ones. Similarity, avoiding identicalness or similarity can ensure a higher probability of success of the trademark to a certain extent. However, the data in the query system is always slower than the actual applications. Basically, the application information that has been issued an acceptance letter can be found, but the recent applications have not yet been issued an acceptance letter (that is, the application information has not yet been issued). Trademarks that have not been entered into the trademark database, or which can be understood as trademarks that have been received by the Trademark Office but have not yet been sorted out and accepted, cannot be queried by anyone. The blind period is based on the data entry time of the Trademark Office, and the query blind period is about 6 months. If during the blind period, even if someone applies for the same trademark as you, they will not be able to search, so this is a risk.

2. Judgment of similarity of trademarks:

When searching for a trademark, the results obtained must be compared with the applicant's trademark for similarity. During the comparison process, the applicant will have a personal standard and opinion, the trademark search officer of the agency will have a standard and opinion, and the examiners of the Trademark Office will also have their own set of standards and opinions. Due to their respective knowledge and opinions, Due to different experiences, different interests and perspectives, the views of the three are not consistent in many cases. Therefore, there is no absolute standard for whether two trademarks are similar or not, only a probabilistic judgment. Especially for the similarity of graphic trademarks, the difference in judgment is even greater. Generally speaking, the order in which the opinions of the three parties should be taken into consideration is: Trademark Office Examiner > Agency Investigator > Applicant. Of course, when applying, the opinions of the agency should be taken into account. When the applicant and the agent are not sophisticated enough in making similar judgments, the trademark may be rejected by the examining board. (Of course, some applicants are aware of the risks and voluntarily take risks. This is a different matter).

3. Trademark announcement and opposition:

Even if the applicant’s trademark passes the examiner’s review and is published in the trademark announcement, there are still uncertainties. The trademark announcement period is three months. During this period, anyone in the country can raise objections (such as pointing out that it is similar to a certain trademark, infringes on the rights of an individual, trademark squatting, etc.). After receiving the objection, the Trademark Office will ask the applicant to respond. Then, based on the materials, a decision will be made on whether to approve it, and it may even be reviewed. Therefore, this is the third undetermined factor.

Although trademarking is not 100%, there are still ways to improve the success rate. The blind period of trademark search cannot be changed, but there are two remaining aspects that can be improved.

To put it simply, it is:

1. Ask an experienced agency to have investigators, be strict when searching, and try to avoid similar trademarks when applying for a trademark name;

2. Applicants must be honest and rational, and do not rush to register other people's trademarks, do not play around with trademarks, and do not imitate well-known trademarks.

3. Do a good job in trademark rejection review, do a good job in trademark defense, and improve the quality of trademarks. success rate.

In short, there are risks in trademark registration, but there are ways to increase the probability, and independent innovation is the right way. Trademark registration