When the copyright is infringed, the obligee must provide evidence to prove that he is the copyright owner and enjoys the copyright. At this time, if it is difficult for the copyright owner to prove that he is the creator or heir of the work, especially when a work has been designed for a long time, or commissioned by others, or is a job work, it is even more difficult to collect original evidence and determine the copyright owner, which makes it extremely difficult for the right holder to claim rights.
The voluntary registration system of copyright is established to solve the above problems. If the obligee registers the copyright after the creation of the work, he only needs to show the certificate issued by the registration center when giving evidence, and it will be recognized by the court or relevant authorities. The copyright certificate greatly lightens the burden of proof of the obligee.
The prior right of copyright can be used to declare a trademark invalid.
Copyright is produced with the production of works, so it belongs to the prior right compared with trademark right and design patent right. According to the relevant provisions of China's Trademark Law and Patent Law, trademarks and design patents that conflict with the prior rights of others can be revoked and invalidated. Therefore, if a work of art (such as a graphic) is applied for a registered trademark by others, or a graphic trademark is registered by others in other categories, at this time, it is more likely to succeed by using the prior right to raise an objection or revoke it.
The Auxiliary Role of Copyright in Trademark Protection
1, saving money at the initial stage of trademark. When applying for registered trademarks and patents, there are clear product categories. If you want to protect them completely, the price is too high. Copyright registration is not restricted by the category of goods, and any service industry and goods are protected, which can prevent others from applying for the registration of trademarks of other categories of goods with the same graphics.
2, trademark and patent protection review period. It takes 1.5 years from trademark application to successful registration, while copyright registration can be completed in only 3 months.
3. Take precautions and make strategic reserves for all kinds of trademark registration. According to the classification principle of goods and services, there are currently 45 categories of goods and services, and trademark registration is classified. When a trademark is registered in a certain category, it is protected in that category and not protected in other unregistered 44 categories (except well-known trademarks). Therefore, in order to make trademarks have exclusive rights in any field (that is, to be protected), they should be registered in all categories.
Especially when the company has many business projects or plans to invest in more fields, all-class registration is particularly important. Some enterprises think that it is not necessary to register all categories at present, but in fact, when enterprises need to make diversified investments to share risks, other categories have already been registered by others, which has a very adverse impact on the development of enterprises.
4. The copyright fee is lower than all kinds of registration. The high cost is the reason why many enterprises give up all kinds of registration, and the trademark has a ten-year term and the renewal fee is also very high. The cost of copyright registration is low, and the term of copyright is 50 years (from the time when the copyright owner is an individual to 50 years after his death), and there is no need to renew it.
5. Use the prior right of copyright to reject the application for similar trademark. When others register the same or similar trademarks in other categories, the Trademark Office may directly reject such registration applications according to the principle of first application.
There are so many advantages to registering copyright, and I believe that the issue of whether to register copyright after registering a trademark will attract enough attention.