Multiple brand trademarks have been preemptively registered? International trademark protection becomes a problem

Factors such as sellers’ internal competition, platform bans, and compliance policies have made the current cross-border situation far worse than before. However, during the epidemic, the cross-border industry has repeatedly received good news, which has inevitably aroused the envy of domestic companies and e-commerce sellers, who want to make a difference in the foreign cross-border industry.

However, due to the lack of brand awareness, many companies such as Lenovo, Li Ning, Qia Qia, and Red Star have suffered heavy losses. Even when they were preparing to go public, they found that they already had a "brand"?

“Xiaomi Auto” does not belong to “Xiaomi”

Take Xiaomi as an example. On September 1, Lei Jun posted on Weibo that Xiaomi Auto has officially completed industrial and commercial registration. The company is named Xiaomi Auto Co., Ltd. with a registered capital of 10 billion yuan. Lei Jun, chairman and CEO of Xiaomi, serves as the legal representative.

However, when searching the Trademark Network, it was found that there are 45 major categories of trademarks, and Xiaomi Technology Co., Ltd. submitted 54 "Xiaomi Automobile" trademark registration applications on April 1, 2021.

The reason why it is 54 categories is that the trademarks of 9 categories were registered more than ten days earlier than Xiaomi, so trademarks with the same application number but suffix +A appeared.

Back in July, as our athletes shined at the Tokyo Olympics, the names of many of our athletes were registered as trademarks in various ways.

It is understood that there are more than 20 trademarks registered with "Quan Hongchan", and the number of registrations for the phrase "Xingge" exceeds 50.

The names of athletes such as " Tian Shen " Su Bingtian, the winner of women's 10-meter air rifle shooting Yang Qian, the women's singles table tennis champion Chen Meng, and the men's 200-meter individual medley swimming champion Wang Shun have not escaped being registered as trademarks. There are many cases, and it is hard to guard against them...

As the saying goes , " Fame brings trouble," and trademark squatting incidents surrounding the names of public figures occur frequently.

Although the "brand effect" brought by nouns or celebrities with their own traffic can help trademark owners save a lot of promotional efforts, this behavior is really disgusting for the people or companies whose trademarks are registered.

Trademark registration overseas is globalized, and protecting rights has become a problem

Trademark squatting incidents are not limited to China . The trademarks of many well-known Chinese companies have been squatted abroad, which has created a great obstacle for companies to enter the global market.

According to incomplete statistics from China's State Administration for Market Regulation (formerly the State Administration for Industry and Commerce) as of 2020, nearly 15% of well-known trademarks in China's market have been preemptively registered overseas, with an average of more than 100 cases per year, involving multiple industries such as food, clothing, housing and transportation. Since the 1980s, there have been more than 2,000 cases of overseas preemptive registrations, directly or indirectly causing intangible asset losses of more than 1 billion yuan each year.

On August 31, 2017, the Trademark Office of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce issued an overseas trademark preemptive registration warning on its official website. A foreign businessman applied for registration of a large number of Chinese toy companies' trademarks in the Chilean Industrial Property Office in his personal name. More than 120 toy companies were involved, and more than 130 trademarks were preemptively registered, half of which were from toy companies in Chenghai, Guangzhou.

Looking back to 2006, when the national brand Qia Qia was exploring the European market, it found that the English and graphic names of " Qia Qia " had already been registered by a German company. Later, Qia Qia wanted to purchase the overseas trademark of " Qia Qia ", but the other company offered a sky-high price of 200,000 euros. Qia Qia could only file a lawsuit with the German court to cancel the trademark. After the first instance, the second instance, and the appeal, it took 7 years before the trademark was successfully cancelled.

Coincidentally, the dispute between Jordan, a subsidiary of Nike, and Jordan Sports in Jinjiang, China, started an eight-year-long tug-of-war, and until last year, only the graphic + Jordan word trademark was ruled to be revoked.

The brand comes first before the product

Digging deeper into the reasons for the successful overseas trademark registration, we find that it is due to the lack of brand awareness among Chinese companies.

Most companies do not consider overseas trademark applications before they start overseas business , but trademark squatters take advantage of the characteristics of trademark regional protection and the principle of "first to register" to register first. When the trademark owner reacts, whether it is to give up the original trademark, buy it back at a high price, or defend its rights through legal means, it will increase the operating costs of the trademark owner and delay the pace of its products occupying the market .

Since trademark registration has a time requirement, if an enterprise or seller intends to expand into the global market or expand in the cross-border industry, it is advisable to plan ahead. While registering domestic trademarks, it is also necessary to prepare for international trademarks and take the lead in applying for trademarks in the countries where you want to expand your business . The brand comes first before the product is launched .

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If your trademark has already been registered, don't panic. The trademark owner can choose appropriate tactics based on his or her own situation and needs, and find a lawyer to protect his or her legal rights.

In short, once a trademark is preemptively registered overseas, it is relatively troublesome for the company . Instead of facing various difficulties after being preemptively registered, it is better to monitor, prevent and respond in a timely and accurate manner as early as possible to avoid losses to the company.

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