"Sorry, the trademark you applied for was rejected."

What? It was rejected. Why? Why?

Many applicants have experienced such an experience when applying for a trademark: it is not easy to think of a good name, and there is no same or similar trademark in the early screening. After submitting the application, they wait for all the processes to be passed successfully and get the trademark certificate, but they wait for a paper to refute. Why on earth is this?

Because even if we do a good job in early troubleshooting, there is a blind period for trademark inspection.

The blank period for trademark inquiry is usually called the blind period, that is, the period from the time when a trademark is applied for trademark registration to the time when the trademark office enters the computer. During this period, the trademark is in an unknown state and cannot be retrieved. At present, the trademark blank period is normally 3 to 6 months.

In view of the fact that the Trademark Office needs to conduct examination first after receiving the application for registered trademarks, and the trademarks will not be entered into the database until they pass the formal examination and substantive examination. Moreover, according to the national trademark office, the number of trademark applications in the first half of 2018 has reached the total number of applications in 2016, totaling 3.886 million. This also led to the fact that the Trademark Office accepted trademarks, and the workload of examination was very large, which also formed an embarrassing blind period of inquiry.

If the trademark applied earlier has not been entered into the database, the trademark applicant's application is just similar to it, and the information of these trademarks cannot be found, it will be rejected.

How should I deal with it?

1. The applicant must submit the registration application to the Trademark Office as soon as possible after determining the trademark name and constituent elements. The trademark registration follows the principle of first application. The earlier the registration application is submitted, the lower the risk of the trademark being registered by others.

2. Don't follow the trend blindly, and apply for online catchwords, popular words, etc. Only a few of these trademarks can be successfully approved for registration, and most of them have been rejected for being similar.

The examination of trademarks is manual, and China has a large number of trademark applications, which can not avoid the blind period of trademark inquiry. The applicant can only try to reduce the negative impact of the blind period.

According to the provisions of the Trademark Law, trademark registration follows the principle of prior application. If two or more trademark applicants apply for registration with the same or similar trademark, the Trademark Office will preliminarily examine and publish the trademark that has been applied for earlier. Therefore, the existence of a blind period for trademark inquiry determines that anyone who applies for trademark registration cannot be 100% successful.

The editor reminds friends who want to register a trademark to submit a registration application to the Trademark Office as soon as possible after the name of the trademark is decided. According to the principle of "first application" in China, the earlier the registration application is submitted, which can effectively avoid the risk of rush registration. At the same time, the trademark name should also pay attention to that it is not allowed to register the words that lack of distinctiveness, such as online hot words, industry common names or descriptive trademarks, and hints about product characteristics.