Many people have a misunderstanding of thinking, believing that owning the trademark right of the trademark is equivalent to owning the copyright of the trademark, but it is not. Copyright needs to be applied for separately, and copyright can indeed protect graphic trademarks. Today we will understand the importance of copyright to trademarks through this issue of cases.
case review
The applicant is dissatisfied with the notice of rejection of the trademark "Stories of Fish and Frog" by the Intellectual Property Office on the designated service, and the applicant filed a request to reject the trademark registration review.
trademark comparison chart
Facts and reasons
1. After inquiry, both cited trademark 1 and cited trademark 3 are under the third examination, cited trademark 2 is under the review of invalid declaration, and the status of cited trademark 1-3 is still unstable, and the effectiveness of the cited trademark in this case is to be discussed.
2. The trademark application and the cited trademark are obviously different in terms of constituent elements, overall appearance, distinctiveness, specific meaning, and call method. The trademark application and the cited trademark do not constitute similar trademarks and do not violate Article 30 of the " Trademark Law ", and registration shall be approved and registered.
Application trademark is a combination trademark composed of graphics + Chinese characters. The whole is a frog's head, the white part is an open mouth, and the mouth is filled with a small fish. The whole image is full of childlike fun and unique.
cited trademark 1 is a text trademark, using bold . Citation Trademark 2 is a graphic trademark, with the upper half of it in a fan shape, and the middle is two big eyes peeking downwards, and the figure below is a combination of fish and face. Citation Trademark 3 is a graphic trademark. The overall figure is the image of a frog, and the overall frog's head is in the shape of a dark bun.
application trademark is the signature of specialty restaurant opened by the applicant. The main dishes in the store are pickled fish and spicy frog. Echoes the image of fish and frogs in the design logo. The trademark application is integrated into the applicant's main dishes through storytelling.
cited trademark 1 is a love story of "You have me, I have you", so cited trademark 1 is a sad love story. Citation Trademark 2 reflects the rights holder's high confidence in his own dishes through his expression of his eyes, and has a certain suggestive effect on consumers. The right holder of the cited trademark 3 applied to register the trademark No. 18370260 "Che Frog" in the same category. From this we can see that the cited trademark 3 is the specific image of the "Che Frog".
3. The trademark applied for is created by the applicant and is the applicant's main trademark brand. The applicant has obtained the copyright protection of the logo. The "Fish and Frog Story" trademark applied for registration in Class 43 has been successfully registered. The trademark application is a continuation of the applicant's prior rights and should be approved for registration.
4. The applicant attaches importance to the protection of intellectual property rights. The applicant is legally registered by the applicant. In actual use, it has a certain correlation with the applicant. In the long-term use process, the relevant public has not misunderstood the source of goods or services. The public can completely distinguish the applied trademark from the cited trademark.
ruling result
Due to the detailed analysis of the trademark, it is clear and reasonable and well-founded, the Trademark Office finally ruled that No. 58745625 "The Story of Fish and Frogs" trademark will be preliminarily approved.
case revelation
"The Story of Fish and Frog" was rejected. Through this case, it can be found that copyright registration is conducive to ensuring the stability of trademark rights and preventing the loss of rights caused by only registering trademarks. Now more and more applicants are considering registering copyrights while registering trademarks. Trademarks and copyrights seem to have no big connection, but in fact they are closely related.
So far, only copyright registration for trademarks is the most effective and convenient way to avoid them. If you apply for a trademark and register your copyright, you can ensure that the copyright and trademark rights of the trademark belong to you. In this case, you can also effectively avoid the problem of trademark approximation.
