Well-known trademarks are losing trademark rights-trademark degradation (II).

Well-known trademarks areLoss of trademark rights

                     ---- (II) of trademark degradation

Trademark is the embodiment of the carrier and vitality of an enterprise's reputation, and it is also a powerful competitive weapon to open up the market. As a sign of brand recognition, trademark has become a well-known brand after accumulated use, but once it has become a common name, losing its significance, facing the danger of being revoked and losing its original value. This is a problem that many enterprises have to pay attention to and prevent.

The previous issue talked about the causes of trademark degradation, and this issue will provide suggestions on how to prevent trademark degradation and what measures can be taken.

2. Strategies to Prevent Trademark Degradation

• Early stage of trademark registration

First, clarify the concept of a common name for a commodity

The interpretation of the generic name of a commodity in the Guidelines for the Review of Trademarks is a registered trademark that originally has trademark distinctiveness, and in the course of market use, it degenerates into the generic name of the commodity that is approved for use. In short, when a trademark is approved and registered, it has significance and identifiability, but in the actual use of the market, it loses its function of identifying the source of goods.

To determine whether a trademark is a common name for goods, the key is to determine whether the function of the trademark is to distinguish between different goods, or to distinguish between different sources of goods, such as the main function of a trademark is to distinguish between different goods, should be determined as a common name. In addition, you can also refer to dictionaries, special reference books, national or industrial standards, certificates from relevant organizations, market research reports, evidence of publicity and use in the market, and evidence of other subjects using the trademark logo on the same kind of goods, etc. whether they point to specific goods.

The generic name of a commodity is not the generic name of the commodity when the trademark is registered, but the function of identifying the source of the commodity is lost in the actual use of the market.

Second, the registered trademark focus on trademark distinctiveness

When applying for registration, the need to pay attention to the constituent elements of a trademark has the distinctive characteristics of the trademark, that is, the distinctiveness of the trademark. Trademark distinctiveness means that a trademark can enable consumers to identify and remember, and can play the function and role of indicating the source of goods or services. Trademark LawArticle 11The lack of salience of the provisions,(I) only the common name, figure and model of the commodity; (II) only directly indicate the quality, main raw materials, functions, uses, weight, quantity and other characteristics of the commodity; (III) other lack of distinctive characteristics.

Therefore, we in the early trademark design or naming, to avoid the above situation, choose a strong distinctive logo. The well-known Lenovo brand has also experienced the dilemma of trademark selection. Lenovo Computer was originally branded"Legend", "Legend" as an inherent word, meaning legend. The inherent vocabulary itself is less significant than the invented vocabulary, and many countries have already been registered, so Lenovo has spent a lot of money to replace "Legend" with "Lenove". So as to stabilize the market value of the Lenovo brand.

• Trademark Use Process

First, the use of trademarks

When trademarks, product names and new products are launched at the same time, it is necessary to inform the public which is the trademark and which is the product name, actively promote trademark information, and strengthen the brand image among consumers. Should not be in order to quickly promote, the trademark instead of goods direct publicity. Although the market is obtained for a while, the trademark can easily become the common name of the commodity and cause irreparable losses.

In addition, for newly listed products, instead of passively preventing the degradation of their trademarks, it is better to take the initiative to create a common name that is easy to understand and remember. For example, by virtueXerox (Xerox), which has dominated the American market for many years, noticed that the word "Xerox" was gradually called a verb in the United States. When it was noticed that the word "Xerox" was gradually called a verb in the United States, it said in its advertisement that "Xerox is the trademark of Xerox" and actively promoted the words "photocopy" and "photocopier", which curbed the generalization of the trademark. While promoting new goods and trademarks, this approach can solve the worries of enterprises, avoid consumers' preconceptions of avoiding complexity and simplicity, and protect the distinctiveness of trademarks from being dispersed.

At the same time, the publicity of trademarks should pay attention to the striking of trademark labels and the correct use of trademark labels.®To make consumers aware of what the product's trademark is.

Second, the wrong use of intervention

In addition to the intentional promotion of trademark owners, we should also pay attention to the improper appellation of the market, media and consumers, and prevent the direct use of trademarks as generic names.

Search,"Google", a trademark of a search engine company, was once included as a verb in a famous dictionary. Its famous degree can be thought. However, "Google" strongly opposed it and sent letters to many individuals and organizations to stop the improper use of the "Google" trademark. China's Baidu is also facing such risks.

Rights holders need to pay attention to government dynamics, that is, to find useless situations and stop them. SuchThe "21 Jin Weihe" trademark was included in the "the People's Republic of China Province, Autonomous Region, and Municipality Drug Standard Variety Compilation" event as a drug name.

• Trademark owners take the initiative to protect their rights

For trademarks that contain their own well-known trademarks applied for or registered by others, the trademark owner shall actively file an application for trademark opposition or trademark invalidation, and try to maintain the distinctiveness of the company's trademark.precisely becauseMore similar trademark registrations will also lead to the weakening of trademark distinctiveness.

For example, there are a large number of products registered by other companies that include Japan's Kobayashi Pharmaceuticals.The "XX warm baby" trademark of the "warm baby" trademark, the existence of these trademarks is easy to make consumers think that "warm baby" is the generic name of the product, thus causing the significant degradation of the registered trademark of Japan's Kobayashi Pharmaceutical "warm baby.

At the same time, the defense trademark registration, through the expansion of protection, to protect their own trademark used in designated goods or services, to avoid being imitated or copied by others, resulting in trademark degradation or stigmatization.

Search,In addition to the registration of canned food such as chili sauce, the trademark of "Laoganma" has also registered other categories, and applied for the registration of similar trademarks such as "Papa"; the trademark of "Alibaba" has also registered trademarks such as "Ali Mother;Coca-Cola has also registered other categories of goods to prevent the mixing of fish and pearls."Coca-Cola" trademark.

   To sum up,In the early stage of trademark, the trademark with high significance is selected as its own brand. At the same time, when launching new products, it is to actively create common names and distinguish trademarks from common names. In the process of publicity and use, actively pay attention to the trademark dynamics,If it is found that others use their registered trademarks as trade names or other descriptive descriptions, they should promptly initiate rights protection actions, require immediate cessation of improper use, and publish newspaper and magazine announcementsEven by legal means. Anyway,With the economic development of the times, the value of the trademark is more and more significant, as a weapon for enterprises to carry out reasonable competition in the market.What the enterprise can do in this role is to actively maintain its trademark.