To Apply Foreign Trade Marks, First Look At The Meaning Of Foreign Languages And Avoid Problems.

Article tenth, paragraph 1 (eight) of the current trademark law stipulates that marks that are harmful to socialist moral conduct or other harmful effects shall not be used as trademarks.

The other adverse effects of this provision generally refer to the negative effects of the trademarks, graphics or other elements on China's political, economic, cultural, religious, ethnic and other social and public interests and public order.

"GAMING", plated as "gambling", will be rejected according to the trademark law, but plated into "game" can be passed smoothly.

Although it is a word, the meaning of plation is far from the same. Of course, the result of trademark application is quite different.

In fact, it is not only confined to the polysemy in English, but also the Chinese words which are extensive and profound are often faced with "misunderstanding".

The trademark law clearly stipulates that "marks that are harmful to socialist moral conduct or other harmful effects shall not be used as trademarks".

But in many cases, just like "GAMING", enterprises do not consider the interpretation and meaning of words in a multidimensional way. Only by grasping one of their meanings, they rush to register trademarks.

When a registered trademark is registered, an enterprise must have a wide range of eyes and ears.

In addition to conforming to trademark laws and regulations, we should also cater to the general understanding of the public, and try to avoid words with or without words that are easily misunderstood by the public.

Of course, many enterprises may be intellectual property "Xiao Bai". They have little knowledge of the issue of trademark registration and other knowledge production. They have to work twice as much as they have done in the past.

The sixth opinion of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues concerning the administration of administrative cases concerning the authorization of trademarks shall be stipulated in the following article: "when the people's courts hear the administrative cases of trademark authorization, they should examine and judge whether or not the trademarks of foreign languages have significant characteristics according to the general knowledge of the relevant public in China.

Although the foreign language in the contention mark has inherent meaning, the relevant public can identify the source of the commodity by this mark, and does not affect the identification of its significant characteristics.

Although the provisions of this article are for the distinctiveness of trademarks in foreign languages, it is also necessary to apply the criterion of "common understanding of the relevant public in China" when judging whether the foreign trade marks have adverse effects.

In the case of trademark dismissal and retrial of "GAMINGGSERIES and map" (hereinafter referred to as "contending for trademark"), a company has applied for registration of "GAMINGGSERIES and map" trademark on ninth categories of VCR, LCD TV, modem, computer mainframe, computer peripherals, computer software (recorded) and so on. The Trademark Office of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce has rejected the registration application on the grounds that the trademark concerned is against the original citation mark on similar commodities.

The company applied for reexamination to the Trademark Review Board of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (hereinafter referred to as the "business jury"). The business committee considered that trademark and citation trademarks were similar trademarks only on some products such as VCR, LCD TV, modems, and other similar products, such as computer mainframe, computer peripherals, and computer software (recorded).

It does not constitute an approximate trademark used on similar commodities.

But the business jury also believes that

The "GAMING", which can be plated into gambling, is used to contend with the commodities designated by the trade mark, which can easily lead to the misunderstandings of the relevant public and thus cause some bad social influence. It has constituted the situation referred to in the first tenth (eight) of the current trademark law, thereby rejecting the application for trademark registration.

Judgement trademark

Whether or not it has adverse effects should be based on the "common understanding of the relevant public in China".

The English word "GAME" most of the Chinese public knows its meaning is "games, sports, games", while the word "GAMING" can be plated as "gambling", but also has the meaning of "game".

In view of the "gambling" meaning of the word, which is not commonly used, is not widely known to the public, and it is used in commodities such as computer mainframe, computer peripherals, and computer software (recorded), the relevant consumers of such commodities will normally correspond to the meaning of "GAMING" and "amusement".

Therefore, the use of the claim for trademark in the computer host, computer peripherals, computer software (recorded) and other goods, which contains the "GAMING" word does not produce adverse effects.

Based on the above judgment based on the "common knowledge of the relevant public in China", the court did not support the identification of the commercial jury that it was easy to cause a certain adverse social impact, but argued that the trademark "GAMING" contained in the computer host, computer peripherals and computer software (recorded) had no adverse effects.