Where a natural person, legal person or other organization needs to obtain the exclusive right to use a trademark for the goods or services it produces, manufactures, processes, selects or distributes, it shall file an application for trademark registration with the Trademark Office of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (hereinafter referred to as the Trademark Office) according to law. In a narrow sense, trademark registration applications only refer to applications for trademark registration of goods and services, international trademark registration, certification trademark registration, collective trademark registration, and special mark registration. In the broad sense, the trademark registration application includes not only the content of the trademark registration application in the narrow sense, but also the application for change, renewal, transfer, objection, trademark license contract filing, and other trademark registration matters.

There are two ways for domestic applicants to handle various trademark registration matters: one is to go directly to the Trademark Office; The second is to entrust a trademark agency recognized by the state. The main difference between the two ways is that the way of contact is different and the documents submitted are slightly different. In terms of the way of contact, if the application is handled directly at the Trademark Office, the applicant has direct contact with the Trademark Office in the process of handling; Where a trademark agency is entrusted to handle the matter, the applicant shall contact the Trademark Office through the trademark agency instead of directly contacting the Trademark Office. In terms of documents submitted, if the applicant goes directly to the Trademark Office for handling, in addition to other documents that should be submitted, the applicant should submit a copy of the ID card of the handler; Where a trademark agency is entrusted, the applicant shall submit, in addition to other documents to be submitted, a power of attorney authorizing the trademark agency to handle trademark registration matters. Domestic applicants who directly handle trademark registration matters shall go to the Trademark Registration Hall of the Trademark Office.

Foreigners or foreign enterprises must entrust a trademark agency to handle trademark registration matters in China, except for foreigners or foreign enterprises with permanent residence or business offices in China.

If a trademark agency is entrusted to handle trademark registration matters, the documents to be prepared and the handling procedures may be consulted with the trademark agency.

Basic process of trademark registration application

1、 Registration preparation

1. Enquiries on the rights of prior trademark registration:

Query refers to the query of whether the trademark applied for by the trademark registration applicant or its agent is the same or similar to the previous right trademark before filing the registration application. It is worth noting that although trademark inquiry is not a necessary procedure for registered trademarks (following the principle of voluntary inquiry), this work can greatly reduce the risk of trademark registration and improve the confidence of trademark registration. During the query process, due to data processing, trademark application review period and other reasons, some of the trademarks applied earlier cannot enter the database, so this part of information cannot be queried and retrieved. In addition, the trademark inquiry and examination work is undertaken by different personnel, and different opinions may appear on the examination opinions of the inquiry personnel and different examiners. Therefore, the results of trademark inquiry cannot be used as a legal basis and have no legal effect. Therefore, it is very important to find a professional trademark inquiry company or a trademark agency with perfect trademark inquiry conditions before registering a trademark.

2. Preparation of trademark application materials:

(1) If you apply in the name of a natural person, you need to show your ID card and submit copies of business licenses of individual businesses, individual partnerships and other business entities. If you apply for registration with an enterprise as the applicant, you need to show the duplicate of the enterprise's Business License and provide the duplicate of the Business License signed and sealed by the issuing authority. A completed trademark registration application stamped with the official seal of the unit and signed by an individual.

(2) 10 trademark drawings (10 colored drawings and 1 black and white ink draft shall be submitted for color trademarks with specified color). The trademark pattern provided must be clear and easy to paste, and be replaced by smooth and durable paper or photos, with the length and width of no more than 10 cm and less than 5 cm. If the direction of the trademark pattern is unclear, the upper and lower parts shall be marked with arrows. When applying for cigarette and cigar trademarks, the drawings can be as large as those actually used.

(3) Prepare the corresponding registration fee: about 2000, including application fee and agency fee.

2、 Application for registration

1. Only individuals or groups with the following conditions can apply for trademarks in China:

The applicant for trademark registration must be a legally established enterprise, public institution, social organization, self-employed industrialist or individual partner, or a foreign national or foreign enterprise from a country that has signed an agreement with China or has joined an international treaty with China or handled according to the principle of reciprocity, Apply to the Trademark Office for trademark registration (since February 2007, the Trademark Office of China has restricted the application of natural person registered trademarks).

2. Application by goods and services:

At present, China's trademark law implements the international classification of goods, which divides more than 10000 kinds of goods and services into 45 categories, including 34 categories of goods and 11 categories of services. When applying for trademark registration, the category of goods or services in which the trademark is used shall be determined according to the classification of the Table of Classification of Goods and Services. If the same applicant uses the same trademark in different categories of goods, it shall file an application for registration in different categories according to the classification of goods. This can avoid improper expansion of the scope of application of trademark rights, and is also conducive to the approval of examiners and the protection of the exclusive right to use trademarks

3. Determination of trademark application date:

It is very important to establish the application date. Since China's trademark registration adopts the principle of "application first", once the application date occurs, it becomes the legal basis for determining the trademark right. The application date of trademark registration shall be subject to the date when the Trademark Office receives the application documents (the smallest unit of the date is' day ')

3、 Formal review

Formal examination is the examination of the written documents of the trademark registration application and some formal elements, such as the application form and the power of attorney, by the trademark registration authority. For trademark applications that have passed the formal examination, a notice of acceptance of trademark applications shall be issued. The applicant can mark "TM" on the trademark.

4、 Trademark examination

Trademark examination is a series of activities carried out by the trademark registration authority to check whether a trademark registration application conforms to the provisions of the Trademark Law, retrieve data, analyze and compare, investigate and study, and decide whether to give preliminary approval or reject the application

5、 Announcement of preliminary examination

Examination and approval of a trademark refers to the decision to allow the registration of a trademark that conforms to the relevant provisions of the Trademark Law after the application for trademark registration has been examined. And shall be announced in the Trademark Announcement. If no one raises any objection to the preliminarily approved trademark within three months from the date of publication of the preliminary approval announcement, the trademark shall be registered and the registration announcement shall be published at the same time.

6、 Registration Announcement

Trademark registration is a trademark legal procedure. The trademark registration applicant shall file an application, which shall be preliminarily approved and announced after being examined by the Trademark Office. If no one raises an objection within three months or the objection is ruled to be unfounded, the trademark shall be registered and become effective, protected by law, and the trademark registrant shall enjoy the exclusive right to use the trademark. It takes about two to three years for a trademark to be applied for and approved for registration. The period of validity of a registered trademark The period of validity of a registered trademark is ten years, counting from the date of approval of the registration. When the period of validity of a registered trademark expires and it is necessary to continue to use it, an application for renewal of the trademark registration may be filed.

7、 Get the trademark registration certificate

In case of agency, the agent shall send the Trademark Registration Certificate to the trademark registrant.

Where a trademark is registered directly, the trademark registrant shall, within three months after receiving the Notice on Obtaining a Trademark Registration Certificate, go to the Trademark Office to obtain the certificate.

In addition, the application time for trademark registration: it generally takes two to three years from the application to the issuance of a new trademark application, including six months for application acceptance and form examination, two years for substantive examination, three months for objection, and two months from the approval announcement to the issuance of the certificate.

Attachment: Precautions for trademark application

1、 Each trademark pattern registered in each category of the International Classification of Goods and Services for trademark registration is a trademark. Every application for any registration of a trademark shall be regarded as an application, and a set of application documents shall be submitted separately, and the fees shall be paid separately.

2、 If the number of copies of the documents to be submitted is not specified, and if the number of copies is not specifically stated in the "Specific Requirements" and "Notes" columns, it shall be considered as one copy.

The commodities that can only be used after applying for trademark are: human medicine and tobacco.

Precautions for natural person to apply for trademark registration

In accordance with the provisions of Article 4 of the Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China, natural persons engaged in the production, manufacturing, processing, selection, distribution of goods or provision of services that need to obtain the exclusive right to use trademarks shall apply to the Trademark Office for trademark registration. When applying for trademark registration and transfer in the name of a natural person, in addition to submitting the Application for Trademark Registration, trademark drawings and other materials in accordance with relevant regulations, the following matters should also be noted:

(1) Individual businesses can apply for trademark registration in the name of the registered shop name in their Business License for Individual Businesses, or in the name of the person in charge registered on the license. Copies of the following materials shall be submitted when applying in the name of the responsible person:

① ID card of the person in charge;

② Business license.

(2) Rural contract operators may apply for trademark registration in the name of their contract signatories, and shall submit copies of the following materials when applying:

① ID card of the signatory;

② Contract.

(3) Other natural persons who have been approved to engage in business activities according to law may apply for trademark registration in the name of the operator published in the registration document issued by the relevant administrative authority. When applying, they shall submit copies of the following materials:

① ID card of the operator;

② Registration documents issued by relevant administrative authorities.

(4) The scope of goods and services for which a natural person applies for trademark registration shall be limited to the business scope approved by his business license or relevant registration documents, or to his own agricultural and sideline products.

(5) The Trademark Office will not accept any trademark registration application that does not comply with Article 4 of the Trademark Law and notify the applicant in writing.

Where an applicant provides false materials to obtain trademark registration, the Trademark Office shall revoke the registered trademark.

(6) When applying for the transfer of a trademark, if the transferee is a natural person, the above matters shall be referred to.

Edit the trademark query in this section

Handle trademark inquiry:

Before applying for trademark registration, the applicant shall first conduct a trademark inquiry, which is mainly to search whether there is a conflict in trademark registration rights. There are three types of queries:

1. Online trademark inquiry system (the system is a trademark inquiry system open to the public by the State Trademark Office) free of charge

2. Query of internal trademark query system (the system is the company's internal trademark query system) free of charge

3. Official inquiry (this inquiry is to submit the trademark inquiry to the Trademark Office and entrust the trademark office inquirer to inquire)

Note: The company's internal trademark query system and the China Trademark Website Query System can only query the trademark files published by the Trademark Office. The Trademark Office has not disclosed the trademarks applied for in the last five months, so the company's internal trademark query system and the China Trademark Website Query System cannot query. If the applicant needs to query the trademark files applied for at this stage, It is required to report to the Trademark Office for inquiry, and the Trademark Office will charge the corresponding trademark inquiry fee above.

For more trademark registration information, please follow the second brother