China trademark prodedures and requirements may be different from that of western countries. A trade mark is a sign that serves the specific and primary purpose of identifying the goods or services of a producer, thus allowing the consumers to distinguish goods or services of one producer from those of another. The sign may be composed of words, devices, letters, numerals, three-dimensional signs (shapes), and combinations of colours, sound, or any combination thereof.
Trademark protection is obtained by registration. China follows the first-to-file principle. A trademark registration in China is valid for 10 years and starts with registration date. The registration is renewable for periods of 10 years.
China Trademark Registration Requirements
In order to be eligible for registration, the following points must be adopted to:
• It must be legal - it must not be identical or similar to the name or flag of a State, the Red Cross or other international organizations, have discriminative content against a nationality, or consist of exaggerated and fraudulent advertising etc.;
•It must be distinctive - the signs must be easy to distinguish and be capable of distinguishing the goods/services of one person from those of another person;
•It must not be functional – this requirement applies, in particular, to three-dimensional shapes that cannot be registered as trademarks if they:
(1) Originate only from the nature of the goods/services, i.e. a trade mark that is simply a model of the product itself; the shape of an apple cannot be used as a mark for a company selling apples because generic names need to be free for all to use.
(2) Exist in order to achieve a certain technical effect, which would prevent a competitor from producing a product that achieved the same technical effect.
(3) Enable the goods to acquire their substantive value; i.e. the design of the trade mark, rather than the product itself, adds value because it is so well designed.
•It must be available for registration.
China Trademark Registration Procedure
The application process includes a formal examination and an examination of distinctiveness and also search for prior trade mark applications and registrations. It takes approximately 18 months before an office action is issued by the trademark authority or registration. After the examination process, the trademark is published in the Trademark Gazette. The opposition period is 3 months from publication of the trademark application. Then the trade mark is accepted for registration.
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If you have further enquire, please do not hesitate to contact Tannet at anytime, anywhere by simply visiting Tannet’s website english.tannet-group.com, or calling Hong Kong hotline at 852-27826888 or China hotline at 86-755-82143422, or emailing to tannet-solution@hotmail.com. You are also welcome to visit our office situated in 16/F, Taiyangdao Bldg 2020, Dongmen Rd South, Luohu, Shenzhen, China.
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