Are there any similarities between trademarks and brands?

Wang Ze: Everyone has a different understanding of the relationship between trademarks and brands. From my personal understanding, semantically speaking, they both point to the same thing, and trademarks are symbols on goods and identify the source. Brand is also a symbol. Semantically, there is no difference between the two, but they are essentially the same. However, trademark belongs to the concept of law. When dealing with cases with trademark law, trademark is mentioned. Brand is a concept in economic life, and the brand itself may include a positive evaluation. Trademark is a neutral word, and the brand may have positive praise in it.

Hu Gang: The emergence of national laws? Trademark? There are about a dozen words, including the General Principles of Civil Law, Tort Liability Law, Scientific Progress Law, Tobacco Monopoly Law, Drug Administration Law, etc., but brands rarely appear in laws, only two, one is the fire protection law, and the other is the safety production law. They all talk about similar words, such as not being able to specify the brand of fire protection products in disguise, which are not used by mainstream legislatures or drafting units.

in the State Council, only one administrative regulation uses brand, that is, the Regulations for the Implementation of the Bidding Law of the People's Republic of China. However, what is used here is to limit or specify a specific patent, trademark, brand, country of origin or supplier, and to use trademark and brand at the same time, which is also a relatively special way of writing. More importantly, trademarks are used, and the legal significance, definition scope and protection of trademarks are very clear.

people are generally used to talking about brands. Brand is more popular in recent years, which is more a concept of enterprise management, more precisely, the concept of distribution. It may include trademarks, goodwill, products, corporate culture, value judgments, etc., with a wide range, but these ranges are still strictly managed by relevant national laws.

what's the difference between a registered trademark and an unregistered trademark?

Wang Ze: A registered trademark is a trademark approved and registered by the state according to the provisions of the State Trademark Law. It is protected by law and enjoys the exclusive right to use a registered trademark. Trademark registration is voluntary. Except for special commodities, drugs and tobacco, which are compulsory to be registered by the state, they are not allowed to be sold in the market. All other commodities are registered voluntarily. There is a process from application to registration of a registered trademark. It is not against the law for an enterprise to use the trademark before it is registered. Of course, this kind of use can't violate other compulsory regulations and can't infringe. This kind of use is an unregistered trademark.

there is a clear definition of unregistered trademarks and registered trademarks, that is, whether they are registered with the State Trademark Office.

what exactly is the mark of a registered trademark?

Wang Ze: The mark of a registered trademark is clearly stipulated in the Trademark Law and can be seen in real life. It is a circle in the upper right corner of a commodity with an R in it, which is the most common form. R is the initials of REGISTER in English. There is another way to show it, that is, to hit one in the circle? Note? Note on the trademark. Only registered trademarks can be used, and the use of this mark in unregistered trademarks constitutes a counterfeit registered trademark. If there is no registered trademark, in order to convey to colleagues and consumers that this logo is my trademark, you can put a TM on it, which is the abbreviation of English trademark initials. Usually, it is not circled, and the two letters are placed in the upper right corner.

what effect does a registered trademark have on enterprises and consumers?

Hu Gang: The core purpose of a trademark is to distinguish the providers of goods or products and services, and to show that a specific product or service implies a specific production process, source, way, etc., so as to help consumers make appropriate choices. From this perspective, it guarantees consumers' right to choose. After China's entry into WTO, China's trademark law and the whole intellectual property system should be in line with international standards. Recently, the intellectual property law is also being adjusted, but the core point is to continuously strengthen the protection of the exclusive right to use trademarks and crack down on such acts of counterfeiting trademarks, so as to protect the interests of our consumers and maintain a normal, good and orderly market competition environment.

what is the cost of the whole registration process?

Wang Ze: The trademark application fee is 1, yuan per piece. According to our country's trademark application, there are tens of millions of categories of goods and services, but from the perspective of registration, we divide it into 45 categories. When submitting a trademark registration application, a trademark can only apply for registration in one category, which is 1, yuan per piece. After trademark registration, the exclusive right is limited, not permanent after registration. It has a 1-year exclusive right period, and it can be extended before the expiration of the exclusive right period.