If a brand doesn't have its own trademark, how can you guarantee your agency? Talk about exclusive rights? To put it simply, even if the joining company is not a liar, what can you do if you make the brand a hit and a competitor copies the same store and brand as you, and then competes with you at a lower price or in other bad ways? Nothing you can do can stop it. He can easily make this so-called brand collapse without any legal responsibility.
Only registered trademarks are protected by law.
Know what a registered trademark is first:
Circle R is the mark of "registered trademark", which means that the trademark has been registered in the State Trademark Office and has been approved by the Trademark Office to become a registered trademark. R in the circle is the initial letter of English register registration.
Registered trademarks have the characteristics of exclusiveness, exclusiveness and uniqueness. It belongs to the registered trademark owner and is protected by law. Without the permission or authorization of the registered trademark owner, no enterprise or individual may use it, otherwise it will bear tort liability.
In China, TM on trademarks also has its special meaning. In fact, TM logo does not protect trademarks. Different from R. TM, it means that the trademark has been applied to the State Trademark Office, and the State Trademark Office has also issued a notice of acceptance, which has entered an objection period, thus preventing others from repeatedly applying, and also indicating that the existing trademark holders have the priority to use it.
The use of TM is a trademark symbol, that is, words, graphics or symbols marked with TM are trademarks, but they are not necessarily registered (unregistered ones are not protected by law). TM is the abbreviation of English trademark.
Relevant personnel in People's Republic of China (PRC) and China National Intellectual Property Administration explained that TM is the copyright mark used during the examination of trademark registration, while circle R is the copyright mark that can only be used during the examination and after approval!
Knowing this, now let you gradually understand several characteristics of a typical franchise chain scam:
1, the company has not been registered for a long time (you can go to the industrial and commercial department of the place where the company is registered, for example, in some parts of Beijing, as long as it costs 1 yuan), it is usually registered not only in the mainland, but also in Hong Kong and other places (the cost of registering a company in Hong Kong and other places is very low), and the business with franchise characteristics is put forward.
2. The company claims to have developed from companies in Korea, Hong Kong and even Europe and America, or is a subsidiary of these companies, or a domestic agent or franchisee of their products (if you need to confirm, you can check the national trademark library. If these brands want to enter China, they will definitely register their trademarks in advance.
The so-called brands operated by these companies have no trademark rights. What I want to emphasize here is that please don't take the Notice of Acceptance of Trademark Application as proof of successful trademark application, which is totally different. The former is that the industrial and commercial bureau informs you that the application for trademark registration has been received, and the latter is that he really owns the trademark. Joining swindlers often take advantage of the decedent's ignorance of trademark knowledge and deceive people with the notice of trademark application acceptance. You know, how can a company that has only been established for one or two years apply for a trademark?
4. In order to prove the authenticity of the company, the company often presents some international brands or brand operation authorization letters given to them by the company (note that the brand has not passed the trademark registration at all and does not exist at all). In order to fool people, these power of attorney are mostly in English, but there are many flaws in them. For example, they still follow the signature habit of China people, while the relevant documents abroad recognize the signature of the supervisor. Of course, over the past few years, these scammers who have joined the chain have been constantly upgrading, and their obvious loopholes are constantly being filled.
It is difficult for ordinary people to judge the price and quality of the products they handle, such as clothing, gifts, health care products, etc. , to facilitate fraud.
6. The life span of such a company is 2 years, as short as 1 year. Of course, it is too late to judge whether a company is a liar by its life span. There are also some other features, such as that the core figures who join the chain swindlers are mostly around a city in a province in central and southern China (omitted here to avoid causing regional disputes), and the cheating places are concentrated in Beijing West Railway Station, and there are a large number of such scammers in the office buildings near Beijing West Railway Station. Of course, these features may also be disappearing, because imitators will always enter. In addition, the scale of swindlers is getting bigger and bigger, and it will develop to other regions.
It can be seen from the above characteristics that the identities of these fraudsters are basically legal, such as legal company registration information, relevant authorization documents of the company and its "parent company" in Hong Kong and other places (in fact, the fraudsters registered themselves), legal business scope of the company, and legal trademark registration acceptance procedures of the company. Because these contents are legal, they have a high success rate of cheating.
So, what are they illegal? This is actually a difficult question to say. What they broke the law seems to have disappeared now. This is related to the changes of laws and regulations in China. Since the promulgation of the Administrative Licensing Law, the measures formulated by relevant departments have lost their effectiveness, so the content of binding franchised enterprises is blank. However, if you want to verify whether the enterprise is a liar, you can still apply the Measures for the Administration of Franchising Organizations. The "Measures" stipulate that you must have your own brand and have your own direct store, which has been operating continuously for more than 3 years. If the franchise chain you are concerned about does not have these two characteristics, then it is 100% liar. Here, I want to explain the "independent brand" again. Please confirm whether its brand has been successfully registered or "application accepted".
I hope I can help you!