The "substantive examination" of trademark registration application refers to the act of the State Trademark Office, in accordance with the provisions of the Trademark Law and the Regulations for the Implementation of the Trademark Law, to examine the legality of trademark registration of qualified trademark registration applications in the order of application dates through retrieval, analysis, comparison and necessary investigation and study, so as to decide whether to give a preliminary examination or reject them. Substantive examination is the key link to decide whether to obtain the exclusive right to use a trademark when applying for a trademark.

What are the contents of substantive examination?

The content of substantive examination of trademarks can usually be divided into two parts:

That is, the examination of absolute and relative conditions of trademarks.

Absolute condition

Absolute condition examination is also called the condition examination of applying for a registered trademark, including the examination of the absolute legality and distinctiveness of applying for a registered trademark;

Relative condition

The examination of the relative conditions of trademark application for registration is also called the examination of whether the trademark conflicts with the prior rights.

The content of substantive review mainly includes the following three aspects:

(1) Whether the words, figures, letters, numbers, three-dimensional signs, color combinations and other constituent elements of the trademark applied for registration violate the prohibitive provisions of the Trademark Law, that is, the provisions of Articles 10 and 11 of the Trademark Law;

(2) Whether the trademark applied for registration meets the statutory requirements, that is, whether the characters, figures, letters, numbers, three-dimensional signs and color combinations used in the trademark are significant;

(3) Whether the trademark applied for registration conflicts with the trademark rights previously applied for and registered by others.

The above-mentioned examination of the prohibition clause in item (1) and the examination of whether item (2) is significant are the examination of trademark legality, that is, the examination of whether the application for trademark registration violates the prohibitive provisions of the Trademark Law, which is also called the examination of "absolute reasons" for prohibiting trademark registration.

If the trademark applied for registration violates the prohibitive provisions of trademark laws and regulations and is not significant, it will be rejected in the substantive examination stage of trademark registration. The examination of whether the above item (3) conflicts with the prior rights of others is also called the examination of "relative reasons" for prohibiting trademark registration. That is, if the trademark applied for registration conflicts with the trademark right previously applied for by others, it will also be rejected in the substantive examination stage.