A: This is one of the problems that enterprises often encounter with trademarks, but it is also a problem that is more confused. What impact does changing the font have on the trademark?
First, the change of trademark font, belongs to the act of impersonating registered trademarks, easy to cause disputes, and is not conducive to the protection of trademark rights, it is recommended to apply for registration of the new trademark after the change.
《Trademark Act》Article 24: Where a registered trademark needs to change its mark, a new application for registration shall be filed. Article 49 Where a trademark registrant, in the course of using a registered trademark, changes the registered trademark, the name, address of the registrant or any other registered matter on his own initiative, the local administrative department for industry and commerce shall order it to make corrections within a prescribed time limit; If it fails to make corrections within the time limit, the Trademark Office shall cancel its registered trademark.
This means that the use of the trademark should be strictly limited to the approved registration of the trademark pattern and approved use of goods within, change the trademark pattern or beyond the scope of approved use of goods, cross-class use, should not add a registered mark, otherwise it is impersonating a registered trademark behavior; If the changed trademark pattern or the goods beyond the approved use are the same or similar to the registered trademark of others, they shall also bear the legal liability for trademark infringement.
Therefore, what font is registered should be applied to what font, can not be changed at will, and add the ® logo. In order to make the trademark more beautiful and special, many registered trademark rights holders will change the font, such as changing the registered printed text to other aesthetic fonts, or artistic creation of the registered trademark font.
Here, remind all registered trademark owners, change the font of the trademark is a new trademark, it is recommended to change the font of the new trademark application for registration as a new trademark. First, it can better protect its trademark rights, and first, it can avoid the risk of administrative punishment and civil infringement caused by trademark impersonation.
Second, In exceptional cases, the change of the font of the trademark does not constitute an impersonation of a registered trademark, which is a self-change, and you can choose whether to apply for registration of the changed trademark.
In some cases, the change of the trademark font does not constitute a substantial change to the font, the change is minimal, such as the font when the trademark is registered and the actual use of the trademark font is handwritten and printed. The law allows this situation to occur, so it will not be treated as a counterfeit registered trademark. However, it is recommended that trademark owners carefully consider applying for registration of trademarks after changing the font.
Third, pay attention to the three risks of withdrawal.
《Trademark Act》Article 49 (2) : Where a registered trademark becomes a generic name of the goods approved for use by it or is not used for three consecutive years without justifiable reasons, any entity or individual may apply to the Trademark Office for cancellation of the registered trademark.
The trademark right holder is reminded that the trademark registered after the change of font and the previous registered trademark constitute two different registered trademarks, and the trademark right holder should pay attention to the use of the two trademarks before and after the change to prevent the risk of withdrawal.
Fourth. The new trademark after the font change is not registered and only used, and the trademark law is not protected.
The trademark law of our country adopts the registration system, which means that only the registered trademark is protected by the trademark law. A trademark that is used only without registration is not protected by trademark law unless it is recognized as a well-known trademark. However, the conditions for becoming a well-known trademark are more stringent and the identification procedure is extremely complicated. Therefore, it is recommended that the trademark owner register the trademark after the font change.
On the basis of《Trademark Act》The reasons for the cancellation of improper use of a registered trademark include:
The owner of the trademark changes the registered trademark on his own;
The right holder changes the name, address or other registration matters of the registrant of the registered trademark without authorization;
Where the trademark owner assigns the registered trademark on his own initiative;
The owner of the trademark ceases to use the registered trademark for three consecutive years;
The use of registered trademarks of goods have serious quality problems, cheating consumers.
The existence of the above acts of all revocation, revocation...... It is so capricious, and the change of the trademark includes changing the font of the trademark, so do not change the font of the trademark at will, if you want to change, you must remember to re-apply for the registration of a new trademark. Source: Trademark Circle
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