How Do Start-Ups Defend Trademark Rights?

Entrepreneurship is also a process of brand creation, and trademark registration is the legal protection of brand, so that the company's products and services can be distinguished from competitors.

Previously, many small and medium-sized companies were limited by capital and other factors. In the early days of development, they did not attach much importance to trademark registration. They were only immersed in products, until the brand had established a certain reputation and reputation among consumers, but the founders found that their trademarks had been snatch by others.

In recent years, this situation has changed significantly.

This is probably because the media frequently reported cases of trademark disputes such as iPad and Tesla. It has made entrepreneurs gradually realize that trademark registration is very important and can not be penny wise and pound foolish, and trademark plays a huge role in amplifying brand value.

Nevertheless, when the trademark should be registered and registered according to what category, many founders are not sure.

It is not hard to find that brand smells are even more sensitive than VC. They often keep a close eye on technology media and social networking sites. Once a product is found to be a bit of a fire, they will rush to grab it.

In this regard, my suggestion is that the time for trademark registration should be as early as the official release of major products, at least before the release.

The registration of a trademark is usually only a few thousand dollars, and once it is registered, the cost of renaming or acquiring will be hundreds of thousands of times.

If a trademark is registered with malicious intent, an enterprise may raise objections to the competent authorities.

The thirty-second law of the Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China (Revised Edition 2013) provides that "the application for trademark registration shall not prejudice the prior rights of others, nor shall they preemptive registration of other trademarks which have been used and have certain effects by improper means."

According to the state

According to the provisions of the trademark trial standard, the following materials can be used to prove that the trademark has been used in practice and has certain effects: 1, the contract, invoice, bill of lading, bank entry and import and export credentials of the commodity or service used by the trademark; 2, the relevant information on the sales area, sales channel and mode of the goods or services used; 3, media, advertising, media commentary and other promotional activities related to the trademark, such as broadcasting, film, television, newspapers, periodicals, networks, outdoor, etc., 4.

The relevant information of the exposition; 5. The earliest time of creation and continuous use of the trademark and other related information; 6, the award of the trademark; 7, other materials that can prove that the trademark has certain influence.

What kind of registration is a complicated professional problem.

In contrast with the international classification of goods and services for trademark registration (Tenth Edition), Internet start-ups should consider ninth categories, thirty-fifth categories, thirty-eighth categories, forty-first categories and forty-second categories.

If it involves O2O business, that is, the business covers both online and offline, it is necessary to find specific subordinate categories of products or services according to the situation of the industry, and finally complete the registration.

At present, in search engines, through competitive bidding, malicious intentions to buy competitors' keywords (including enterprise names, product names, etc.) have become commonplace. Sometimes, the interests of damaged enterprises are much better than their counterparts.

However, if these key words have been registered, enterprises can complain to search engine companies, usually the latter will cooperate.

It should be noted that, before naming the company, the entrepreneur should first go to the trademark registration authority to make a trademark inquiry, so as to know whether the trademark that he is preparing to apply for registration is the same or similar with the trademark registered or registered by others, so that there will be no problem of the company's name can not be registered, or the company's name as an important part of the brand can not be registered.

In addition, all kinds of evidence for trademark use should be retained.

If an enterprise is ready to expand its business overseas, it should also register its trademark overseas.