Trademark Rush: How Long Will It Hurt Me?

Trademark rush registration is no longer a new topic. In 2004, Hisense was launched by BOSCH SIEMENS in Germany to trigger trademark disputes. It caused a wave of waves, which once caused concern and heated discussion among media, enterprises and related industries. The topic of "frequent rush of domestic trademark overseas", "internationalization of China's trademark registration internationalization" and "protection of intellectual property rights of enterprises" and other topics continue to appear. It seems that the industry and enterprises are aware of trademark protection.

Although the Hisense incident has long been settled, the incident of domestic enterprises' trademark being snatch abroad has never stopped. Now the Great Wall motor is forced to replace its trademark because of the rush of trademark in overseas market.

This event once again aroused the concern of journalists for trademark rush registration and intellectual property protection. How long will the domestic enterprises encounter the rush of trademark registration? How long will the "going out" enterprises really build a protective network for their hardworking trademarks?

Since the beginning of last year, Huatai, double ring, Jianghuai, hippocampus, Changan and other independent brand auto manufacturers have changed their vehicle logo. The most notable is the recent high-profile replacement of Geely Automobile, the person in charge of the enterprise said that the reason for changing the Geely logo is to implement the international operation strategy.

Before that, Great Wall Motor Co also announced the opening of new logo.

However, there are some "helpless" ideas for the Great Wall to change its bid.

It is understood that the old trademark of the Great Wall has been snatch in many countries, and the enterprises encountered some troubles in the process of export.

Although Great Wall Co said that the old car trade mark of the Great Wall is being snatch abroad, it will not affect the internationalization process of the Great Wall car. The opening of the new logo is "the design of a more global logo with more nationalized elements, so that Chinese cars can knock the door to the international market".

However, what we would like to see more is that the brand is effectively protected and the brand new international journey of the Great Wall is set in a new posture.

Although the topic of trademark registration and intellectual property protection has been mentioned again and again, the incidents of foreign trade mark registration by domestic enterprises have never stopped. More "going out" enterprises should really take this seriously, and take actions to stop paying expensive tuition fees, and really build a protective network for their laborious trademarks, so that they can truly become "right and upright".

How much attention do you attach to international registration of trademarks?

Trademarks, as intangible assets of enterprises and important components of intellectual property rights of enterprises, have potential value.

Insiders told reporters that the input of trademark protection can not be measured by money. If a brand is created, enterprises will invest a lot of money, manpower and material resources. Once they are snatch, the loss will be immeasurable.

With the accelerated pace of Chinese enterprises going abroad, Chinese enterprises with brand value and their products will gradually become fragrant cakes.

Regardless of competitors' tactics or strategic considerations, the phenomenon of taking precautions against offensive and defensive means such as rush registration and the same name trademark will emerge more and more. The key lies in whether Chinese enterprises have a sense of precaution and whether they have made relevant preparations ahead of schedule.

From the following set of data, it seems that the domestic enterprises know the international registration of trademarks. In October 1989, China joined the Madrid International Registration System of trademarks. By the end of 2002, the total number of applications for international trademarks by Chinese enterprises through the Madrid system to other countries was only 2450, with an average of less than 200 per year. In 2002, Germany filed 5158 international trademark applications, more than 2 times the sum of 13 years' applications of Chinese enterprises.

The reporter once went to an enterprise to interview, and went with reporters to have a friend who was engaged in the trademark registration business. At that time, the person in charge of the business had consulted the friend because of the frequent rush of trademark registration abroad. At that time, the industry suggested that enterprises should register the Madrid trademark as soon as possible, and register the market that the enterprise will enter once it is not a member of Madrid Agreement.

However, due to the lack of timely measures, trademark rush registration eventually affected the overseas market development of the company.

It can be seen that although some enterprises have realized the necessity of international registration of trademarks, due to insufficient attention or missed opportunities, they eventually hurt them.

Here, we need to remind enterprises that trademark international registration refers to the Madrid trademark international registration system. However, some countries are not members of the Madrid Agreement. If they want to enter these countries, they must register with each other.

It is understood that the international registration of Madrid trademark is expensive, but compared to the brand value of the enterprise and the preservation of overseas market, "these costs are negligible."

Defense is better than punishment before death.

A friend who has been engaged in trademark registration for many years told reporters that although Hisense's trademark was being registered as a matter of fact, the rush of foreign trade mark in domestic enterprises is still frequent. Enterprises must strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights and maintain hardworking brands.

In fact, the efforts made by many foreign enterprises in protecting intellectual property rights are worth learning from domestic enterprises.

According to insiders, when some foreign enterprises enter the destination market, they usually register trademarks locally before entering the market and protect the brand effectively.

During the interview, the person in charge of a condiment company in Austria asked for an appointment with the trade mark who was engaged in trademark registration. The reporter knew with the same time that the company had a history of 100 years, because it wanted to enter the Chinese market and wanted to know the trademark registration in China ahead of time.

The head of the Austria enterprise is proud of the long history of its enterprise, and what makes the reporter feel more profound is the strong brand protection consciousness of the company.

"Enterprises should make plans for the development of overseas markets ahead of time, register trademarks ahead of time, leave sufficient time for intellectual property rights protection, and try to avoid the fact that products have entered the destination market but have not yet protected intellectual property rights."

The industry has rather reluctantly told reporters, "many domestic enterprises have no trademark registration blindly enter the overseas market, which is extremely dangerous."

In addition, enterprises should sign contracts (agreements) with distributors and agents, and strictly agree on the responsibilities of distributors and agents. In particular, they may not apply for registration in any country or region or apply for registration of export enterprises' trademarks, labels and packages, etc., and shall not change the pattern or combination of trademarks; attach great importance to the collection, preservation and archiving of relevant evidence, especially the relevant documents, advertisements or other supporting documents of the first export related countries or regions, as well as other evidence that is first used and applied; and build up the trademark of the mother and son, the multi trademark system, and the multi brand strategy can have alternative choices when the trademark registration application is confronted with difficulties, and will not affect the product sales and brand promotion, nor will it be involved in time-consuming and arduous litigation or disputes. Third.

For enterprises that have been registered with trademark, they can lodge complaints with local intellectual property protection agencies. "In fact, we should focus on pre defense. Once a trademark is registered, it will not only cost a lot of money, but also a long time, and the odds of winning will be hard to grasp."

In the face of increasingly fierce international competition, Chinese enterprises should not only export their products to all countries in the world, but also enhance their awareness of international protection as soon as possible, speed up the registration of trademarks, effectively prevent others from grabbed their trademarks, and avoid the loss of brand assets that have been built for many years.