Can I use the trademark without registration?

Before a trademark is officially registered as a registered trademark, it can be marked with the TM mark. This is intended to clearly declare to the public that the displayed graphics or text are not simply used to name or advertise products or services. It is not used for promotional purposes, but exists as a trademark with actual exclusive rights. Next, the editor of Legal Savior Network will introduce relevant content to you.

1. Can the trademark be used without registration?

In this case , you can use the method of marking "TM", that is, when a trademark has not officially obtained the registration qualification, you can use this symbol to publicize it.

This not only makes it clear to the general public that the graphics or text are not used as symbolic titles for companies or products, or for advertising and promotion, thus effectively It prevents it from flowing into the public domain and cannot apply for registration and obtain exclusive rights protection; and by marking the "TM" mark, it can also be used as a real certificate for using the graphic or text as a trademark. It can also be used as a proof when applying for registered trademark in the current period. Prior Use Claim.

Article 4 of the Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China

Natural person, legal person or other organization In production and business activities, if you need to obtain the exclusive right to use a trademark for your goods or services, you must apply for trademark registration with the Trademark Office. Bad-faith trademark registration applications that are not intended for use shall be rejected. The provisions of this Law regarding commodity trademarks shall apply to service trademarks.

2. Is it illegal to use someone else’s unregistered trademark?

Although unregistered trademarks can be used legally, since such trademarks do not enjoy legal protection, anyone can freely use them use.

According to the express provisions of the relevant laws and administrative regulations of the country, if it involves product manufacturers or operators who must rely on registered trademarks for marketing and promotion, they must take the initiative to propose Trademark registration application.

If it is not approved for registration, it cannot be sold in the market..

It should be emphasized that those trademarks that have not been registered cannot obtain legal protection from use.

If you are maliciously registered by others, you will most likely face serious consequences of infringement disputes.

In actual application, the main risks faced by unregistered trademarks include but are not limited to the following six factors:

First, trademarks cannot obtain legal protection, making it impossible to effectively rely on modern publicity tools to compete fiercely;

Second, unregistered trademarks This constitutes an unavoidable weakness for business operations - the user of the trademark does not have the exclusive rights to the trademark;Once someone else has completed the trademark registration first, the original use of the trademark Users will lose the right to continue using;

Once again, due to failure to register the trademark, As a result, it is impossible to form intellectual property rights in the legal sense. Therefore, unregistered trademarks are difficult to be regarded as components of intangible assets; unregistered trademarks cannot apply for registered trademarks, well-known brands and other related corporate praise titles; especially when large-scale and powerful companies Compared with their peers, companies with unregistered trademarks are more likely to suffer from malicious imitation or preemptive registration by other companies, which will in turn cause significant economic losses to themselves.