A peanut oil company needs to register a trademark. What should they do? Is there any process to register a trademark? The editor has brought you relevant knowledge about the trademark registration process for a peanut oil company. Perhaps this There's just what you need. What are the conditions for registering a trademark?

(1) Distinctiveness of the trademark

The distinctiveness of a trademark lies in whether the trademark is newly created and whether it has personality. A unique and newly created trademark undoubtedly has distinctive features. A trademark should have distinctive features so that it can be easily distinguished from others. A comprehensive examination should be conducted from the text, graphics and other components of the trademark itself. Overly simple graphics, lines, or overly complex patterns, ordinary numbers, general daily life terms or advertising terms, common names of goods, packaging, decoration, containers, etc. of goods are generally considered not to have distinctive features. For example, if an arc is used as a mark to apply for registration on cosmetics and other commodities in categories 3, 9, 18, 24, 25, and 28, it will be regarded as lacking distinctiveness and being difficult to consume. The registration was not approved on the grounds of identification of the person; and in another case, a combination trademark with pines and cypresses, flowers, plants, sun, cranes, flowing water, and rocks as the background pattern, and the name "Songs and Cranes Welcome Spring" was requested to be registered on a certain daily necessities, but it was also not approved. The reason for registration is that "songs and cranes welcome spring" is an auspicious term among the people and is often used on daily necessities. The pattern is also often used on daily necessities as a decorative pattern. The trademark does not contain any text or graphics. It has distinctive characteristics and does not have an identification function.

The purpose of requiring trademarks to have distinctive features is to enable consumers to identify the source of goods through trademarks. Even if some trademarks lack distinctive features, their long-term use can still be used to identify them. Once registered, protection should be provided. For example, if simple graphics such as triangles and semicircles are associated with a specific product and used repeatedly, so that they have an identification function, they should also be protected. Another example is the world-famous "NIKE" trademark used on sportswear and sneakers. The pattern of a wave of a pen is so simple that it is almost unrecognizable from the perspective of its constituent elements, but it couldn't be simpler. A single stroke has the strongest identifying effect. Therefore, the distinctive features of a trademark must be judged and identified from the perspective of whether the trademark has been actually used and whether it has formed a specific connection with a certain product.

(2) Trademarks must not be confused with others’ trademarks

Confusion refers to situations where a trademark is identical or similar to another’s trademark. Generally speaking, the aforementioned original trademarks will not be confused with other people’s trademarks, while suggestive trademarks, descriptive trademarks, especially borrowed meaning trademarks are often confused with other people’s trademarks, and the trademark applied for registration will not be confused with other people’s trademarks. If the trademarks are mixed, they will not be allowed to be registered. If the same or similar trademark is used on the same or similar goods, it will constitute infringement.

Identical trademarks means that the words and graphics of the trademarks used on the same product or similar products are exactly the same or the pronunciation of the trademark name is exactly the same. If the trademarks are the same, it will be difficult for consumers to distinguish the goods or services of different operators.

Trademark similarity means that the words, graphics or name pronunciation of trademarks used on the same or similar goods are basically the same. Although there is a difference, the difference is not obvious enough to cause consumers to misunderstand and purchase. For example, someone applied for the designated use of "surname" on ice cream and popsicles in Class 30, which is similar to the "Wahaha" trademark registered by Hangzhou Wahaha Group for designated use on Class 30 ice products. Although the two trademarks ?Surname Haha? and ?Wahaha? have different characters and different pronunciations, their glyphs are very similar. ?What’s your surname? Just slightly changed each word of ?Wahaha?, and deliberately made it closer to ?Wahaha?, taking advantage of consumers’ trust in the Wahaha trademark, causing consumers to misunderstand, leading to misunderstandings. purchase. Similarity of trademarks mainly manifests itself in three situations: shape (appearance), phonetic (pronunciation), and meaning (meaning). By comparing two trademarks, if their shape, phonetic, and meaning are similar, Similar trademarks that are likely to confuse consumers are considered similar trademarks.

Whether the trademarks are identical or similar, they must be identical or similar on the same goods or similar goods. Therefore, in addition to judging whether the trademarks themselves are the same or similar, it is also necessary to judge whether the goods they use are the same. Goods or similar goods, if the goods used are not the same goods or similar goods, even if the two trademarks are the same or similar, it does not affect their distinctiveness and recognizability. The so-called same product refers to products that are similar in performance, use, production process, main raw materials, etc.

It is not difficult to determine whether they are the same product, but it is more complicated to determine whether they are similar products. Because in addition to comprehensively considering whether the manufacturing department, raw materials, quality, usage, and even the sales department of the product are consistent, it is also necessary to examine the consumer psychology. Moreover, different standards may also be grasped for different trademarks. For a trademark that has a certain degree of popularity among consumers, as long as it may cause consumers to misunderstand the source of the goods, goods that are not similar from a commodity point of view will also be judged as similar goods. For example, an enterprise applied for registration on pastries and oatmeal in Class 30 with the exact same logo as "Carlsberg" registered by Carlsberg Ltd. on Class 32 beer. The rejection of the application for an identical trademark on similar goods shows that similar goods are relative. What is the trademark registration application process?

1. Trademark design

Trademark design should pay attention to the following issues:

Originality, that is, the design of the trademark must be innovative; On the one hand, it must meet the requirements of distinctiveness; on the other hand, creative trademarks can easily expand the visibility of products and quickly occupy the market.

The name of the trademark should avoid being associated with the function of the product;

The design of the trademark should highlight the theme and be reasonably laid out.

Our company has a group of outstanding designers from home and abroad who can provide you with professional design services.

2. Trademark query

Trademark query usually refers to a trademark registration applicant who, before applying for a registered trademark, seeks to know whether there are any prior trademark rights that may conflict with the trademark he is applying for. Inquiries regarding trademark information. It takes a long time for a trademark to be applied for and approved for registration. If the trademark registration application is rejected, on the one hand, the trademark registration fee will be lost, and on the other hand, it will take longer to reapply for a registered trademark, and it is still unknown whether the re-application will be approved for registration. Therefore, it is best for applicants to conduct a trademark search to understand the status of prior rights before applying to register a trademark.

There are two types of query services currently provided:

First, internal query service. This service is free and lasts 2 working hours (normal circumstances)

Second, it is an agency government inquiry service. This service follows the principle that inquiry is voluntary, paid, and the inquiry results are for reference only. The time is 7 working days.

From the Hong Kong Intellectual Property Department, you can obtain a report on whether a trademark exists in prior trademark records and a preliminary opinion on whether it can be registered. Although the inquiry results are not equal to the review results, applying for inquiry services from the government will greatly reduce the risk in the entire application registration process. Therefore, we strongly recommend customers to choose government inquiry services.

3. Submit the application

Our company will be responsible for submitting the application to the Hong Kong Intellectual Property Department. The submitted materials include:

"Trademark Agency Power of Attorney";

"Trademark Registration Application Form": clearly fill in the applicant and application address, trademark category and list of goods or services;

Clear trademark drawing; and

Registration Application fee.

4. Acceptance Notice

After receiving the trademark registration application materials, the Hong Kong Intellectual Property Department will issue an application number and issue an acceptance notice, which will take about one week.

5. Review

The review will go through two stages:

a. Formal review

The Trademark Registry will review the relevant application before , will first review the application form and all attachments in detail to see whether the required parts of the form have been filled in, whether the relevant information is correct, and whether the required information is incomplete.

If everything is in order, the application process will enter the next stage (substantive examination stage).

b. Substantive examination

After checking the deficiencies of the application and confirming that all information is complete, the Trademark Registry will search the trademark records to determine whether the same or similar goods or services, whether other merchants have registered or applied for registration of the same or similar trademarks.

The Trademark Registry will also check whether the relevant trademark complies with the registration requirements stipulated in the Trademark Ordinance.

If approved, the application process will enter the next stage (registration announcement stage)

6. Gazette announcement

After the Trademark Registration Office approves the application, It will be announced in the Hong Kong Intellectual Property Gazette for a period of three months. If no one raises any objection, the trademark can be successfully registered.

7. Registration

After the trademark registration application is approved, the detailed information of the trademark will be recorded in the registration book and a registration certificate will be issued to the applicant. In addition, the Registrar of Trademarks will publish the relevant registration notice in the Hong Kong Intellectual Property Gazette. The registration date will be retroactive to the date of filing of the application. In other words, the rights of the owner of the registered trademark shall be calculated from the date of filing of the application. What is the content of the trademark announcement?

After the Trademark Office substantive review, the trademark application that complies with the relevant provisions of the Trademark Law will be given preliminary approval and registration, and the preliminary approval and registration number will be assigned to the trademark, and a review search card will be established. , fill in the preliminary review draft and publish it in the "Trademark Announcement". This announcement is called the preliminary approval announcement. Applicants whose trademarks have been preliminarily approved can receive a free copy of the "Trademark Announcement" as a notice to the applicant. The basic contents of trademark announcement include the following aspects:

1. Preliminary examination and approval of trademark announcement. Publish the preliminary approval number, application date, trademark, used goods, category, applicant, and applicant's address.

2. Registered trademark announcement. Print the registration number, trademark, category, registrant, and trademark exclusive period.

3. Registration renewal announcement. Print the registration number, trademark, category, registrant, and trademark exclusive period.

4. Announcement of changes to registered trademarks. Print the registration number, trademark, original registrant, and changed name.

5. Transfer, cancellation, trademark license contract and other matters.

Registered trademark company registration