Trademark Overview
1. Meaning of Trademark
Any sign that distinguishes the goods (services) of a natural person, legal person or other organization from the goods (services) of others may be used as a trademark. A trademark is composed of words, graphics, letters, numerals, three-dimensional signs, color combinations, sounds, etc., as well as a combination of the above-mentioned elements.
2. What is the difference between the R mark and the TM mark?
TM is the abbreviation of the English trademark of "trademark", not a legal registration mark, for unregistered trademarks, "TM" can be used. R is the mark of a legally registered trademark. As long as the trademark is marked with R, it means that the trademark has been approved and registered by the Trademark Office and is a registered trademark. A trademark that has not been approved for registration shall not be marked with R on the trademark, otherwise it will constitute an act of passing off a registered trademark.
3. Validity period of trademark rights
According to the Trademark Law, a registered trademark is valid for 10 years from the date of approval of registration. If the registered trademark expires and needs to continue to be used, the trademark registrant shall go through the renewal procedures in accordance with the regulations within 12 months before the expiration, and if it fails to do so within this period, it may be granted a grace period of six months. If the grace period expires and the renewal procedures are not completed, the registered trademark shall be cancelled.
4. Ways to protect trademark rights
(1) Online infringement complaints can be filed through the intellectual property protection channels of online shopping platforms, (2) lawyer's letters may be sent directly to trademark infringers, (3) trademark infringement complaints may be filed with the market supervision and administration departments at or above the county level, (4) trademark infringement cases may be reported to the public security organs, (5) applications may be filed with the customs for taking protective measures against imported and exported goods suspected of trademark infringement, and (6) civil lawsuits for trademark infringement may be filed with the people's courts.
Patent Overview
1. Types of patents and their meanings
Patent right refers to the exclusive right granted by the patent administration department of the State Council to the exclusive exploitation of the inventor and creator within a specified period of time. According to the Patent Law of the People's Republic of China, patents are divided into three types: invention, utility model and design.
2. Characteristics of patents
(1) Exclusivity. Without the permission of the patentee, no one may manufacture, use, sell, offer to sell, import the patented product or produce the product in accordance with its patented process for production and business purposes. (2) Temporality. Inventions are only protected by law during the term of patent protection, and invalid patents include those that expire or are lost in the middle of the patent without paying annual fees, and can be used by anyone free of charge. (3) Regionality. An invention is patented in that country, it is protected by law in that country, foreign patents are not protected in China, and Chinese patents are not protected in foreign countries.
3. The term of protection of the patent
Invention patents are protected for 20 years, and utility model patents and design patents are protected for 10 years.
4. The benefits of obtaining a patent right
1. Enhance the market competitiveness of products and enterprises; 2. Enhance the qualifications of enterprises and get more opportunities to "win the bid"; 3. Authorize others to use and obtain license fees; 4. Prevent others from infringing and obtain infringement compensation; 5. Pledge financing to obtain development funds; 6. Evaluate and invest in patented technology; 7. Obtain government funding and policy support.
5. Ways to protect patent rights
1. Self-settlement: Reach a settlement agreement on the basis of equal consultation between the two parties;
2. Apply to the Market Supervision Bureau for processing, and rely on administrative means to order the infringer to stop the infringement;
3. File a lawsuit with the court to require the infringer to stop the infringement and compensate for the economic losses caused by the infringement.
Legal provisions for the protection of intellectual property rights
1. The following conduct is strictly prohibited by market entities in all industries
(1) Without the permission of the trademark registrant, the act of using or covertly using the trademark of another person and its similar trademarks on the same kind of goods or similar goods; (2) Selling goods that infringe the exclusive right to use a registered trademark; (3) Forging or manufacturing the logo of another person's registered trademark without authorization or selling counterfeit, (4) Replacing the registered trademark without the consent of the trademark registrant and putting the goods with the replaced trademark on the market; (5) Intentionally providing convenient conditions such as warehousing, transportation, mailing, printing, concealment, business premises, and online commodity trading platforms for the infringement of others' exclusive right to use trademarks, and helping others to infringe on the exclusive right to use trademarks; (6) Unauthorized use of commodity names, packaging, and other goods that have a certain influence on others; (7) Unauthorized use of another person's influential enterprise name (including abbreviation, trade name, etc.), social organization name (including abbreviation, etc.), name (including pen name, stage name, (8) Marking a patent mark on a product or its packaging for which a patent has not been granted; (9) Marking another person's patent number on a product or product packaging without permission; (10) Continuing to mark a patent mark on a product or its packaging after the patent right has been declared invalid or terminated (the patent has expired or the patent annuity fee has expired); (11) Selling counterfeit patented products; (12) Forging or altering a patent certificate(13) Acts of using or covertly using the trademarks of others and their similar trademarks for false publicity; (14) Acts of using unauthorized patents or using the patents of others for false publicity; (15) Manufacturing, using, offering to sell, selling, or importing the patented products for the purpose of production or business operation without the permission of the patentee of the invention or utility model, or using the patented process or the use, offering to sell, selling, or (16) The act of manufacturing, offering to sell, selling, or importing a product for which the design is patented for the purpose of production or business without the permission of the design patentee.
2. Bear legal responsibility
(1) Where the exclusive right to use a registered trademark is infringed, the infringing goods and the tools mainly used to manufacture the infringing goods or forge the logo of the registered trademark shall be confiscated and destroyed, and a fine of not more than five times the illegal business turnover or not more than 250,000 yuan shall be imposed. where the crime of counterfeiting a registered trademark is constituted, the sentence shall be fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years and/or a fine, and if the circumstances are especially serious, the sentence shall be fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than 10 years and a concurrent fine.
(2) Whoever counterfeits a patent shall, in addition to bearing civil liability in accordance with law, be ordered to make corrections and make a public announcement, confiscate the unlawful gains, and impose a fine of not more than five times the amount of the unlawful gains or not more than 250,000 yuan;
(3) Where the patent rights of others are infringed, the infringer shall be ordered to immediately stop the infringing acts, destroy the special equipment and molds for manufacturing the infringing products, and give the patentee compensation of up to 5 million yuan.
Source: Yanshan County Municipal Supervision Bureau