Trademark inquiry refers to the procedure in which the trademark registration applicant personally or entrusts a trademark agent to inquire about the registration of a trademark in the trademark registration office, so as to know whether the trademark he intends to apply for registration is the same or similar to the trademark already registered or being registered by others. In the process of trademark registration, trademark inquiry is an important step that cannot be ignored. By querying the trademark registration of the Trademark Office, we can find out whether the trademark to be applied for registration is the same or similar to the trademark already registered or being registered by others, which will greatly reduce the risk of trademark registration, improve the success rate of trademark registration, and avoid the double loss of time and money.
Generally speaking, trademark query is a single category query based on the category of goods or services. For example, if you want to register a clothing trademark, you need to make an approximate query in Category 25. However, there is a "serious" problem of cross category approximation in the "Table of Differentiation between Similar Goods and Services" used by the Trademark Office.
Cross category approximation refers to goods or service items that are not in the same category and are highly similar in terms of function, usage and use, sales channels, etc., so they form similar goods or services with each other. For example, 3002 "tea drinks" in category 30 are similar to 3202 "nonalcoholic drinks" in category 32 in terms of function and use method, so they are similar to each other in different categories.
When this happens, the applicant needs to query the trademark in the two categories respectively. However, in view of the special situation of this cross category approximation, the seemingly unrelated two categories may cause similarity. Xiaozhi still recommends that the applicant consult professionals with rich knowledge and experience in commodity classification to avoid trademark registration failure due to cross category approximation.
In addition, the existence of well-known trademarks has also caused certain difficulties for trademark inquiry. China's Trademark Law stipulates that well-known trademarks already registered in China enjoy cross category protection, that is, even if a trademark is registered in only one category, because it is recognized as a well-known trademark, other people cannot register the same or similar trademarks in other categories.
Of course, trademark inquiry is not only to inquire about the similarity of trademarks, but also to judge whether trademarks violate the relevant provisions of the Trademark Law, and whether trademarks are significant. This requires trademark applicants to fully understand the relevant provisions of the Trademark Law of China and Articles 10 and 11 of the Regulations for the Implementation of the Trademark Law, carefully study the criteria for judging the similarity of trademarks, and fully understand the trademark classification table of hundreds of pages
In addition, lack of experience is also an important factor affecting the applicant's trademark query. Lack of experience will lead to deviation in the applicant's approximate judgment and significance judgment of the trademark, which will not only reduce the accuracy of trademark query, but also ultimately affect the trademark registration result, leading to registration failure.
The formal trademark agency has a group of professionals who are experienced and understand the trademark review standards and review rules. Therefore, the professional advice provided can effectively avoid human errors and greatly improve the success rate of trademark registration. Therefore, it is necessary for partners who lack professional knowledge and experience to choose a reliable trademark agency.
