in other countries, the principle of "use first" is adopted. The meaning of "prior use" refers to the sequence of production or sales dates between two or more identical or similar trademarks used for the same variety. If the production and sales dates are earlier, it is called "prior use". The practice of "use first" is actually to obtain the exclusive right to use a trademark through use, and the first user can get the exclusive right first. The users of the principle of "use first" are represented by countries such as Britain and the United States. Its characteristic is that the exclusive right of a trademark depends only on the use of the trademark, and registration is only to enhance its effectiveness. The principle of "use first" protects the rights and interests of the first user, but it also has obvious shortcomings, that is, the registered trademark is unstable. Any trademark that was used earlier, although it has been stopped later, can still object to the exclusive right to use a registered trademark that has been registered and has a wide range of business, thus interfering with the normal operation of the market. There are also regional problems. If a trademark is only used in a certain area or a certain town and does not involve the whole territory, then the ownership of its exclusive right area must be decided through public comments. If the trademark is only used in a certain area, its exclusive right is limited to that area. If the trademark owner wants to expand it to other areas, he must carry out publicity to let consumers in other areas know, so as to expand the coverage of exclusive right.
the original principle of prior use of trademarks can be understood as: to apply for trademark registration in a country, it must be actually used in that country before the application, otherwise, the applicant is not qualified to submit a registration application to that country. However, with the development of global trade and the formation of a great cycle of world trade, more and more countries have changed the original rigid trademark authorization principle, which has softened this principle. Take the United States as an example. For foreign applicants, they can apply for registration in the United States on four bases: ① It is most beneficial for applicants to apply for trademark registration based on actual use. The advantages are: low cost, short time and relatively easy registration. (2) to intend to use as the basis for the application, using this basis for the application is that the applicant has not actually used the trademark in the country where the application is made, but is ready to use it after a period of time. Applying for trademark registration on this basis is relatively expensive, takes a long time, has stricter examination standards and complicated application procedures. Why? The reason is that the examiner thinks that the trademark has not been used in the United States, so it should be examined in strict accordance with the standards. If it is based on actual use, the examiner will think that since the trademark has been actually used in the United States and there is no legal dispute in actual use, it will be slightly relaxed in examining the distinctiveness of the trademark. Based on the application for intended use, even if it passes the examination, the objection period has passed and the registration certificate will not be issued immediately. At this time, there is one more procedure than based on actual use. Based on the application for intended use, after the substantive examination is passed, the applicant must wait until the trademark is actually used in the United States, and then must sign an affidavit of use and provide two actual use labels before applying for the registration certificate issued by the US Patent and Trademark Office. The period from the examination and approval of the trademark application to the actual use of its trademark by the applicant is two years. If the applicant can't finish the actual use within the first half year, he must apply for a second half year extension. In other words, the applicant can apply for four extensions within two years. If the time limit of two years is exceeded and no evidence of actual use can be provided, the trademark application will be invalid. It can be seen that the application based on the intended use is both long and expensive. (3) for foreigners, can be based on their own registration. The application based on domestic registration does not need to provide evidence of use, but the applicant must provide the registration certificate issued by the local trademark authority, and the trademark and commodity applied for registration must be exactly the same as the domestic registration. For foreigners, you can apply for trademark registration based on your own country. For a registration application based on a domestic application, the applicant must also provide the application certificate issued by the local trademark authority, and the US Patent and Trademark Office can only approve the registration after the applicant's domestic application is registered.