1. Distinctiveness of the trademark
The "distinctiveness" of a sign, also known as "distinctiveness" or "distinctiveness", refers to a sign used for a particular good or service that has the characteristic of identifying the source of that good or service, thus enabling the provider of such goods or services to distinguish it from other providers of the same or similar goods or services.
2. Determinants of the distinctiveness of a trademark
(1) The distinctiveness of a trademark sign depends first and foremost on the relationship between the sign and the relevant goods or services, and the closer the connection between a sign and the goods or services to which it refers, the weaker the distinctiveness; Conversely, the more significant it is. This means that certain signs are distinctive (inherently distinctive) from the outset when used for goods or services; The same signs, when used for other goods or services, are initially not distinctive. For example, the following signs, when used for "air shad service, booking service", etc., are very distinctive, because their Chinese meaning is "low-cost airlines", and the graphic is an aircraft, which directly describes the characteristics of the service; However, for "car rental", "hotel reservation", "weather forecast" services, the logo has the distinctiveness required for trademark registration, because the text of the logo is not directly related to these types of services.
(2) When determining whether a sign is distinctive, in addition to considering the closeness of the relationship between the sign and the relevant goods or services, the sign should be judged as a whole. Sometimes one or more of the elements constituting a trademark sign are not inherently distinctive in themselves, but when combined, they are inherently distinctive, i.e. as a whole capable of identifying the source of goods or services, in which case the mark should be considered distinctive, and the sign should not be considered unregisterable because the sign contains elements that are not distinctive, such as "Hankook Tire".
(3) The relevant public's understanding of the sign is also of great significance for judging whether the sign is distinctive, and the relevant public refers to the consumer or operator related to the goods or services of the cooperative sign, and the object of many goods or services is not the whole public, but a specific group of people. For example, the use of precision experimental instruments cannot be of the general public, but only researchers in universities and research institutes, and whether the signs used in such goods or services can distinguish the source can only be based on the understanding of these specific groups of people.