What are the legal risks in the recognition of well-known trademarks
Legally, the acquisition of a well-known trademark needs to meet strict conditions, otherwise it will not become a well-known trademark and thus obtain expanded legal protection.
We need to clarify the law on well-known trademarks feature. A "well-known trademark" refers to a trademark that is well-known to the public in a considerable area of a country and has extremely high reputation for product or service quality and brand influence. It can be seen that a well-known trademark is not necessarily a registered trademark, and whether a trademark is well-known or not is an objective existence. Under certain conditions, it can be recognized and protected by law.
Provide effective legal protection for well-known trademarks, involving There are many issues, including the subject of identification of well-known trademarks, the standards and validity of identification, and the investigation of legal liability for infringement of well-known trademark rights. In practice, there is often confusion between “well-known trademarks” and “famous brand products” within the local area. In fact, the essential difference between the two is that the scope of influence of a well-known trademark can radiate to the national or international scope and has a legal basis for recognition. As for the identification of the latter, there is currently no unified legal basis, and it is onlyIt is an influence limited to a specific geographical scope.
What we call the legal basis for the recognition of well-known trademarks, It means that the right holder of a "well-known trademark" can confirm the fact of a "well-known trademark" through administrative procedures or judicial procedures stipulated by law, thereby obtaining the "rights certificate" for claiming rights in advance, in order to obtain expanded legal protection and effectively stop infringement. Creating legally strong evidence conditions is also the legal reason and significance for enterprises to strive for the protection of "well-known trademarks". Therefore, although whether a trademark is well-known is an objective existence, if the well-known trademark can be recognized in time, it will help the well-known trademark to obtain timely and maximum legal protection, and the ways or methods of recognition are also different. Therefore, in the process of well-known trademark recognition, there are also certain legal risks, mainly manifested in the lack of recognition conditions and the selection of recognition channels.
No matter what the identification method is, the following factors should be considered when identifying a well-known trademark: (1) the relevant public’s awareness of the trademark; (2) the duration of use of the trademark; (3) the trademark The duration, extent and geographical scope of any publicity work; (4) the record of the trademark being protected as a well-known trademark; (5) other factors that make the trademark famous. Therefore, the acquisition of a well-known trademark requires time and the accumulation of brand influence. During this process, the enterprise itself needs to have a wise attitude and legal awareness to strive for the protection of well-known trademarks, thereby creating conditions for the trademark to obtain good social and market effects. It should be fully Use the provisions of the law to your advantage. 2. Legal risks and prevention of well-known trademark recognition procedures. Legally, the well-known trademark recognition procedures are divided into administrative procedures and judicial procedures. However, the standards and effects of final recognition are the same. Well-known trademarks are recognized on a case-by-case basis. The status of a well-known trademark is closely related to the state of market competition and is not static. In fact, there is a certain degree of legal risk in the recognition process of well-known trademarks. In order to prevent problems before they occur, it can be achieved through timely administrative procedures.The effect of fixing the evidence in advance, and in the litigation dispute that has already occurred, you can also actively file an application for the recognition of a well-known trademark with the court, or request the confirmation of a well-known trademark that has been recognized. It can be said that when the conditions for a well-known trademark are met, the recognition of a well-known trademark should be sought in a timely manner. We will analyze and introduce it from two approaches: administrative procedure and judicial procedure.
What needs to be made clear is that based on the special significance of well-known trademarks, the law has expanded the protection of well-known trademarks and formed an all-round centralized protection for the commercial interests of well-known trademarks. Mainly reflected in the following aspects:
1. Well-known trademarks are protected by law regardless of whether they are registered or not. Let’s first understand how the law protects unregistered well-known trademarks. For general trademarks, only registered trademarks enjoy exclusive rights, but well-known trademarks are an exception. If a trademark applied for registration in the same or similar goods or services is a copy, imitation or translation of someone else's well-known trademark that has not been registered in China, and is likely to cause confusion among the public, it will not be registered and its use will be prohibited. The right holder of the well-known trademark has the right to lodge an objection. , preventing its registration and use. So, how to protect registered well-known trademarks? For registered well-known trademarks, the scope of rights protection can be extended to different or dissimilar goods or services. The law stipulates that if a trademark applied for registration for different or dissimilar goods or services is a copy, imitation or translation of a well-known trademark registered in China by others, misleading the public, and causing the interests of the well-known trademark registrant to be harmed, the registration will not be granted. and its use is prohibited. In this case, if you continue to use a well-known trademark, you will bear corresponding civil liability for infringement including compensation.
2. Legal risks and prevention of well-known trademark network domain name protection Due to the identification function of domain names on the Internet, they have increasingly become an important symbol of enterprises on the Internet. This characteristic of domain names makes them of great intellectual property significance in the commercial field. Enterprises can use trademarks or trade names as domain names, so that visitors can identify the goods and services of the website creator through domain names. If a well-known trademark is used on the domain name, it will It is more conducive to improving the visibility and credibility of well-known trademarks and enjoying the well-known reputation on the Internet.The commercial benefits brought by trademarks. However, in practice, most well-known trademark rights holders prefer domain name protection.
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