Common problems of trademark use in China
Trademark registrants are required to utilize their registered trademarks in a standardized and continual basis, in addition, maintain their distinctiveness. However, trademark owners with a large number of registered trademarks may face difficulties.
The PRC’s Criteria for Trademark Examination, Review, and Adjudication define trademark use refers to the commercial use of a trademark, including the act of using the mark on goods, product packaging or containers, and commercial transaction documents, or in advertisements, exhibitions and other commercial activities, to distinguish the origins of goods. The author has discovered four frequent trademark issues.
Inaccurate description of the name of trademark holder or licensee.
The name of the trademark proprietor or licensee is incorrectly described. This difficulty is common in transnational or large organizations with complicated organizational structures, where IP is frequently registered in the name of the parent company and the use of their trademarks is delegated to their subsidiary companies. In a corporation with too many subsidiaries, in-house workers may not know the exact names of all of its subsidiaries’ legal people, and corporate names on evidential documents are the accepted forms of addressing the corporation internally rather than legal persons’ registered names.
Unauthorised change of registered trademark.
Change of a registered trademark without permission. This refers to a trademark holder taking the liberty of changing a word or character, letter, numeric, 3D shape, color combination, etc. of a trademark, resulting in unrecognised use of the mark by changing the major component and unique aspects of the mark. There are a variety of reasons why a trademark is changed. Using the components of a mark independently and modifying the typeface, color, phrase, or character of a mark is a frequent example of non-standardised trademark use. All of these scenarios are likely to result in a significant shift in a mark’s distinctiveness.
“False” lack of evidence of trademark use.
Corporations design trademark strategies based on the classification of primary trademarks, sub-marks, or even sub-submarks to differentiate between the positions of items and brands. However, preserving evidence of using all of their markings is difficult. A trademark handler, for example, may find it difficult to list all applicable trademarks on sales contracts, invoices, or other prepared documents. On some contracts, only the primary trademarks are listed, or, thankfully, sub-marks are also listed. As a result, the genuine use of some sub-marks cannot be accurately reflected in sales papers. With bills, there are both common and serious trademark issues. Many invoices merely include the name of the goods on them, with no trademarks.
Lack of the date of trademark use
Many marketing brochures lack a date when the materials or evidence first became available. Copyright statements, such as (C)2021, may be required to prove the approximate dates of their existence, and actual stores should be photographed beside a newspaper from the target day to preserve temporal proof.
Standardised use of trademarks
When necessary, concluding IP license agreements and obtaining trademark licenses. When a trademark holder licenses the use of his or her trademark, it’s crucial to sign a license agreement with the licensee. Trademark holders should record their significant trademark licenses so that the Trademark Office can issue an authorized and widely acknowledged recordal notification.
Regularly training employees on how to use trademarks in a consistent manner according to standardized. The in-house IP department of a corporation plays a key role in ensuring that the company’s trademarks are used standardized. IP professionals are in charge of utilizing all resources to provide regular training to help employees gain knowledge and practice in trademark use.
Creating trademark usage manuals to train employees on how to use trademarks according to standardize . The more complex a company’s division of labor is, the larger it is. Different departments have varying levels of IP awareness and understanding. The use of trademarks, on the other hand, is a common job for all departments. The IP department is in charge of creating a guide for other departments that encourages or requires them to use trademarks in a consistent manner.
Obtaining evidence of trademark usage on a regular basis and coordinating trademark preservation and administration. The IP department should collect and retain evidence of important trademark usage on a regular basis, and unify the management of the bank of trademark use evidence to examine trademark standardisation.
Non-standard trademark use does not always mean trademark rights are lost, as a defense can be mounted by creating an evidence chain. However, it raises questions about how registered trademarks should be managed. To protect their brands’ fundamental rights, trademark owners should make standardized use of trademarks to safeguard the basic rights of their brands.
***Other Articles***
– You could see How To Register Trademark in China here.
– You could visit here to see Procedure of Trademark in China.
– You could visit here to check Required documents of filing trademark in China.
Contact AAA IPRIGHT: Email: [email protected]
Or sending your inquiry by filling the form:
