"Make a friend"

The trademark was rejected

How to avoid the lack of significance of trademarks?

Introduction

Luo Yonghao, known as the originator of talk show, now has more and more identities, but at present, he is still the man who brought the live broadcast goods to the first brother in order to pay off his debt.

01

Luo Yonghao's slogan

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In 2012, he founded hammer technology to make hammer mobile phones. However, the mobile phone industry was too voluminous, and the hammer mobile phone finally fell down, accompanied by a debt of 600 million. Lao Luo did not declare bankruptcy and minimized his losses. Instead, he was in debt of 600 million.

In March 25, 2020 tiktok was announced to be the only live player in micro-blog by the tiktok and micro-blog. Lao Luo's most common slogan in the live broadcast is: "don't make money, make friends.".

This slogan began with Lao Luo's hammer mobile phone, but at that time it was "mobile phones don't make money, make friends". Unexpectedly, mobile phones really don't make money. When Lao Luo announced the day of the live broadcast of the live voice, Lao Luo applied the "friend" to the trademark and completed the tiktok application of all 45 categories. Up to now, 471 trademark applications have been filed.

02

Luo Yonghao's trademark application was rejected

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Recently, the first instance documents of Beijing jiaogeyou Digital Technology Co., Ltd. and the State Intellectual Property Office were made public.

The document shows that the trademark in dispute is the "make a friend" trademark of scientific instruments. Previously, the State Intellectual Property Office rejected the application for registration on the re examined goods on the grounds of its lack of distinctive signs. Making a friend complained that the trademark in dispute itself has remarkable characteristics, and its significance as a trademark cannot be ignored just because it is a daily language. Moreover, several trademarks of "friend, find a friend, call a friend and goodbye to a friend" have been approved and registered on category 9 goods. The defendant should follow the principle of unanimity in examination and request the court to revoke the sued decision. The defendant argued that the procedure for making the sued decision was lawful.

The court held that the evidence in the case was not enough to prove that the trademark in dispute had been significantly used. The fact that other trademarks were approved for registration proposed by the plaintiff was different from the situation of the case, which could not be used as the natural basis for the trademark in dispute to be approved for registration. Finally, the court ruled to reject the plaintiff's claim of Beijing jiaogeyou Digital Technology Co., Ltd.

Why is the trademark rejected for lack of significance? When the applied trademark is too simple, such as using simple lines and ordinary geometric figures, the examiner will consider that the trademark lacks distinctive features and does not have identifiability, and will be rejected. A registered trademark is a brand mark to distinguish it from others, so it is generally not recommended to register this type of trademark.

The significance of trademarks is not absolute. After using some trademarks that have no significance, consumers can easily identify the source of goods and services through them, which makes trademarks significant. In this case, the application for rejection of reexamination still has a great success rate.

03

How to avoid the lack of significance of trademarks?

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1. Avoid using industry names

When naming a trademark, do not use the general name of the industry and descriptive trademarks, such as directly indicating the quality, raw materials, function, purpose, etc.

2. Diversification can imply commodity characteristics

The brand name should not directly describe the characteristics of the product, but can use a trademark that has an impact on the quality of the product or is suggestive. For example, "Piao Rou" does not directly indicate how good the shampoo is, but directly implies "softness"; There is also the "Shufujia" on soap. When you look at this trademark, you can directly understand that it is very comfortable to use on the skin, which is directly distinguished from the descriptive "comfortable".

3. Names unrelated to goods or services

Although the combination of Chinese characters has a fixed meaning, it can be used in words unrelated to the specified goods or services. For example, the "red rice" trademark used on mobile phones, the "big white rabbit" trademark on milk candy, and the "Great Wall" trademark on wine. These trademarks are not related to commodities in terms of vocabulary.

4. Own original name

A trademark must be original in order to be significant, but a trademark with significance does not necessarily have originality. For example, the "Haier" trademark on the refrigerator is original and original, but the "Great Wall" trademark on wine, although significant, does not have originality. How to be original? It is generally homophonic and word change in relevant Chinese or English.

5. It can be recognized by the public through a lot of publicity, so it has significance

Although the trademark itself is not significant, if the enterprise enables consumers to connect the trademark with the holder through a lot of early publicity, the trademark will be significant and can be registered as a trademark.

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