What are the main evidences of trademark use
Several major evidences of trademark use that are currently common
1. Carry out large-scale advertising for the trademark It is direct and powerful evidence of the use of the trademark, such as commercial promotion through newspapers, magazines, television, radio and other advertising media. However, government announcements (including the "Trademark Announcement") are not included in this list. Government announcements are publicity only and are not commercial.
For example, if an enterprise provides a local government with An announcement in a local newspaper is evidence that the trademark has been awarded some honorary title by the local government. Such evidence is a government announcement and is not considered evidence of use of the trademark. When a trademark is involved in a news report in the news media, since it is published in the nature of news, it does not have a commercial nature. Also, because it is not an "advertisement", it is not regarded as evidence of use.
2. License others to use the trademark, the licensee The use of the trademark shall be deemed as the use of the trademark, but the registrant shall provide the above-mentioned proof of use and trademark use license contract to the Trademark Office.
3. For the sole purpose of export, attaching the trademark to the goods or their packaging or wrapping in the country is also The trademark is deemed to be used in this country.
Common controversial issues in practice
1. Renewal of a registered trademark, change of name of the registrant, change of address of the registrant. Renewal, name change, and address change of a trademark only indicate the trademark The registration status is not the use of the trademark and cannot be regarded as evidence of actual use of the trademark.
2. The registered trademark has changed during use. There are two situations. If the actually used trademark provided by the registrant as evidence is obviously inconsistent with the approved registered trademark (the trademark subject has changed change), such evidence cannot be regarded as evidence of use of the trademark; if the trademark provided is only partially changed, but does not change the distinctive features of the trademark registration, and the registered trademark has not undergone substantial changes, although the trademark used is different from the original registered trademark If it is not exactly the same, it can still be regarded as use. In order to define what is a substantial change, we can learn from the "Japanese Trademark Law". The "Japanese Trademark Law" stipulates that the use of a registered trademark with the following changes is deemed to be the same Use of trademarks.
(1) Registration in use When applying for a trademark, change the text fonts in the trademark design. For example, change the printed font to script, regular script to cursive and running script, traditional characters to simplified characters, and uppercase to lowercase.
(2) As long as the names and meanings are uniquely corresponding, Japanese hiragana, katakana, English and kanji can be used with each other, and it is not illegal to use.
(3) The non-main part of the registered trademark graphic has been slightly changed.
(4) Registered trademarks consisting of two words with the same meaning can be used separately. Kanji, hiragana, and katakana can be written vertically.3. Use in Hong Kong, Macao Special Administrative Region, and Taiwan. Hong Kong and Macao have returned to the motherland and become special administrative regions. Taiwan is an integral part of the People's Republic of China. However, due to historical reasons, these three regions are not the same as mainland China. Different trademark legal systems. According to the Basic Law of the Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions, the Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions maintain their original legal systems. Therefore, use in the Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions cannot be used as evidence of effective use to maintain a trademark registered in mainland China. Since Taiwan has not yet returned to the motherland, it remains to be discussed how Taiwan's legal system will be connected with the mainland.
4. Use trademarks in newspapers, statistical reports, ingredient lists, etc. issued internally by the enterprise. The trademark must be used for the purpose of commercial transactions to directly or indirectly promote goods or services to consumers. Effective use is when used in the market economy. This is because trademarks are products of the market economy. Trademarks cannot exist independently of market competition, and market competition cannot be separated from trademarks. The two are cause and effect for each other. Enterprises in advertising, trade transaction documents, etc. The use of trademarks is for the purpose of commercial transactions to directly or indirectly promote goods or services to consumers. The use of trademarks by enterprises in their internal financial statements, statistical data, etc. is not for the purpose of commercial transactions and is not To have a relationship with consumers, this method cannot be regarded as the use of trademarks.
5. When a trademark registrant uses multiple registered trademarks on a single product at the same time, each registered trademark should be separated and independent, and should not be overlapped to create new visual effects, otherwise It is not regarded as use. For a combination trademark, the use of a part of the combination trademark alone cannot be regarded as use of the combination trademark.
6. The use of trademarks on the Internet has brought new problems to the legal protection of trademarks. Due to the temporal nature of trademark use online , regionality is still difficult to determine, so whether the use of trademarks online is regarded as use of the trademark needs to be discussed.
The above is the relevant knowledge compiled by the Hualv editor for everyone. If you have more questions, you can consult a professional lawyer on the Legal Savior website, or directly entrust Legal Savior Online lawyers can help you get out of legal difficulties.