Administrative protection of well known trademarks in China, protection of well known trademarks

China's legislation on the protection of well-known trademarks is relatively late, and the Interim Provisions on the Recognition and Administration of Well-known Trademarks mainly reflect the extended protection of well-known trademarks in three aspects: 1. The Trademark Office may reject the application for registration of a trademark that is identical or similar to the well-known trademark of another person on non-similar goods and may damage the rights and interests of the registrant of the well-known trademark. If it has already been registered, the registrant of a well-known trademark may request the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board to revoke it.

2. Where it is forbidden to improperly use a trademark that is identical or similar to a well-known trademark of another person on non-similar goods, and it would imply that the goods have some connection with the registrant of the well-known trademark, thereby causing damage to the rights and interests of the registrant of the well-known trademark, the registrant of the well-known trademark may request the administrative authority for industry and commerce to stop it. 3. Prohibition of use as a trade nameFrom the date of recognition of a well-known trademark, if others use words identical or similar to the well-known trademark as part of the enterprise name, and it may cause misunderstanding by the public, the administrative authority for industry and commerce shall not register it; If it has already been registered, the registrant of a well-known trademark may request revocation. Article 13 of the amended Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China extends the protection of well-known trademarks to non-similar goods or services, formally establishing the expanded protection of well-known trademarks in the form of legislation.

Legal Analysis: The cross-class prohibition right of well-known trademarks originates from the scope of protection of well-known trademarks, and generally speaking, it can cover the following:

1. If the trademark applied for registration for the same or similar goods is a copy, imitation or translation of a well-known trademark that has not been registered in China by another person, which is likely to cause confusion, it shall not be registered and its use shall be prohibited.

2. If the trademark applied for registration for non-identical or dissimilar goods is a copy, imitation or translation of a well-known trademark that has been registered in China by another person, misleading the public, causing the interests of the registrant of the well-known trademark to be harmed, it shall not be registered and its use shall be prohibited.

3. If a registered trademark violates the relevant provisions of the Trademark Law, the trademark owner or interested party may request the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board to rule to cancel the registered trademark within five years from the date of trademark registration. If the other party registers in bad faith, the owner of the well-known trademark is not subject to the five-year time limit.

4. If the use of a trademark violates the provisions of Article 13 of the Trademark Law, the relevant party may request the administrative department for industry and commerce to prohibit the use. If the Trademark Office determines that it is a well-known trademark in accordance with Article 14 of the Trademark Law, the administrative department for industry and commerce shall order the infringer to stop using the well-known trademark in violation of Article 13 of the Trademark Law, and to confiscate and destroy its trademark logo; Where it is difficult to separate the trademark logo from the goods, it shall be confiscated and destroyed together.

5. If the owner of a well-known trademark believes that another person may deceive the public or cause misunderstanding to the public by registering his well-known trademark as an enterprise name, he may apply to the competent authority for registration of the enterprise name to revoke the registration of the enterprise name.

6. If another person's domain name or its main part constitutes the reproduction, imitation, translation or transliteration of a well-known trademark, it shall be determined that its registration or use of the domain name constitutes infringement or unfair competition.

Legal basis: Article 14 of the Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China A well-known trademark shall be recognized as a fact that needs to be determined in handling a trademark case at the request of the parties. The following factors shall be considered in the recognition of a well-known trademark:

1) the degree of awareness of the relevant public about the trademark; (2) the duration of use of the trademark; (3) the duration, extent and geographical scope of any publicity work for the trademark; (4) a record of the trademark being protected as a well-known trademark; (5) Other factors that make the trademark well-known. In the course of trademark registration examination and investigation and handling of trademark infringement cases by the administrative department for industry and commerce, if a party claims rights in accordance with Article 13 of this Law, the Trademark Office may, according to the needs of examination and handling of the case, make a determination of the well-known status of the trademark. In the course of handling trademark disputes, if a party claims rights in accordance with Article 13 of this Law, the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board may, according to the needs of handling the case, make a determination of the well-known nature of the trademark.

In the course of adjudicating a civil or administrative trademark case, if a party claims rights in accordance with Article 13 of this Law, the people's court designated by the Supreme People's Court may, according to the needs of the case, make a determination of the well-known nature of the trademark.

Producers and operators shall not use the words "well-known trademark" on goods, commodity packaging or containers, or in advertising, exhibitions and other commercial activities.

The protection of well-known trademarks under the Trademark Law is mainly embodied in the following: for well-known trademarks that have been registered in China, not only can others be prohibited from using them on similar goods, but also on other categories of goods. For the Chizen Xiaoming trademark that has not been registered in China, although it is not possible to prohibit others from using it on other categories of goods, it can prohibit others from using it on similar goods; In addition, a well-known trademark may prohibit others from using it as a business name, network domain name, or other misleading use.

Legal basisArticle 59 of the Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China.

The owner of the exclusive right to use the registered trademark shall not have the right to prohibit others from using the generic name, graphic or model of the product contained in the registered trademark, or directly indicating the quality, main raw materials, functions, uses, weight, quantity and other characteristics of the goods, or the place name contained therein. The owner of the exclusive right to use the registered trademark has no right to prohibit others from using the shape of the goods themselves, the shape of the goods required to obtain technical effects, or the shapes that make the goods have substantial value. If another person has used a trademark that is identical or similar to the registered trademark and has a certain influence on the same goods or similar goods before the trademark registrant applies for trademark registration, the owner of the exclusive right to use the registered trademark has no right to prohibit the user from continuing to use the trademark within the original scope of use, but may require it to attach an appropriate distinguishing mark.