Zhuhai lawyer, Zhuhai legal consulting, Zhuhai law firm, Jingshi law firm, Jingshi Zhuhai law firm].
Authors: Beijing Jingshi (Chongqing) Law Firm, lawyer Sun Long, lawyer Luo Xiumei.
This article was originally written by the lawyer of Jingshi (Chongqing) Law Firm, and only represents the author's own point of view.
Class 35 trademarks, did you understand them wrong?
According to the relevant provisions of the Trademark Law and its implementing regulations, when applying for a registered trademark, the applicant shall fill in the class and name of the registered trademark for which it applies for the goods and services published in the Classification Table of Similar Goods and Services (hereinafter referred to as the "Classification Table") formulated based on the Nice Classification.
The main purpose of Class 35 services is to assist others in the operation or management of their businesses, in the management of their business activities or business functions, and in providing them with services for advertising to the public through various means of communication. The most important feature of this type of service is that the relevant service is provided to others, rather than the relevant acts engaged in by the right holder's own business needs.
How to understand Category 35 services
Generally speaking, general types of commodity production enterprises that only manufacture or sell their own goods as their business scope and do not engage in providing advertising services, business management assistance and other services for other market entities or individuals do not need to apply for registered trademarks on Class 35 related services, and the following will explain the services related to Class 35 as follows:
1. Advertising-related services:Advertising, creating advertisements, or providing advertising planning services for other people's products or services, such as "advertising, posting advertisements, advertising, advertising film production, outdoor advertising, film advertising, advertising consulting, advertising editing, production and dissemination", etc.
It does not include directly advertising one's own products or services, or inviting others to advertise, plan, edit, produce and disseminate one's own products or services. In the process of promoting their own products or services, the parties may advertise and publicize the trademarks of the goods or services they actually operate. Typical entities engaged in advertising-related services mainly include entities that provide advertising planning, design, production, publishing, dissemination and other services to others.
2. Business administration auxiliary related services:Acts of providing assistance to others in the operation and management of their commercial enterprises, such as "business management assistance, business management consulting, business administration assistance, business research, hotel business management, organization of business activities, business evaluation services, business data analysis, market research and research, consumer research", etc.
It does not include day-to-day business management, business analysis, research, investigation, etc., which are engaged in for oneself for the purpose of carrying out business activities or strengthening one's own corporate management. Typical entities engaged in business management auxiliary services mainly include entities that provide business consulting, research, management and other services to others.
3. Promote services for others:In order to help others increase the sales or demand of their goods or services in the market, provide specific suggestions, planning, consulting and other services.
It does not include the sale of other people's goods or services to consumers directly through retail or wholesale, nor does it include the sale of other people's goods or services to earn the price difference, that is, the simple sale of goods does not belong to the scope of selling services for others.
Distributors or providers of goods or services are usually the recipients of such services. Typical entities engaged in the promotion of services for others mainly include entities that provide corresponding specific services for the purpose of promoting others' goods or services offline or online. When the business activity is only to sell other people's brand products to earn a certain price difference, the business activity engaged in is actually retail, not to sell services for others. However, if in addition to the sale of goods, there are also services such as advertising, product display, and promotion in the course of business activities, the relevant entity may apply for a registered trademark on the corresponding specific services.
4. Personnel management auxiliary related services:Others provide personnel management, personnel recruitment, recruitment and other services, such as "personnel recruitment, human resource management, personnel management, personnel recruitment, employee position adjustment, career placement", etc.
It does not include personnel management, employee position adjustment and recruitment of personnel for one's own enterprise in business activities. Typical entities engaged in personnel-related services mainly include entities that provide personnel recruitment, management and other services for others.
5. Office affairs related services:It refers to providing office services such as document copying, file management, and stenographic for others, such as "photocopying services, shorthand, computer document management, secretarial, business document management, and newspaper subscription". It does not include internal file management, printing and copying for the company's own work. Typical entities engaged in office affairs related services mainly include entities that provide photocopying, shorthand, secretarial and other services for others.
6. Financial and accounting related services:Provide financial and accounting-related services to others, such as "accounting, compilation of accounts and statements, business audit, tax planning, financial audit", etc.
It does not include tax planning and business audits carried out directly by the enterprise itself or by hiring others to help it carry out. Typical entities engaged in accounting-related services mainly include entities that provide financial audit and other services to others.
7. Retail or wholesale services of drugs and medical suppliesDrugs, pharmaceutical preparations, sanitary preparations, medical supplies, veterinary drugs, veterinary preparations and other commodities that require national approval and qualification certificates before they can be retailed or wholesaled are centralized and classified (except transportation), so that customers can see and buy. This service refers to the comprehensive facilitation service provided for the above-mentioned special commodities to enter the circulation field, excluding specific commodities such as drugs and pharmaceutical preparations. Typical entities engaged in the retail or wholesale services of drugs and medical supplies mainly include entities that provide retail services of medical supplies.
In summary, the main purpose and feature of Class 35 services is to provide relevant services to others, and the trademark on the front of the store is used to sell the goods produced by oneself, which does not belong to the use of "marketing for others" services. When other market entities claim infringement of the above-mentioned acts on the basis of trademarks approved for other goods or services, even if the alleged infringer obtains a registered trademark that "sells services for others", such acts may still constitute infringement or unfair competition against the registered trademarks of others.
Therefore, if you sell your own goods or services directly to consumers through retail or wholesale or other means, or sell other people's goods or services to earn the price difference, that is, the simple sale of goods, you do not need to register a trademark in Class 35.
Lawyer Sun Long,National patent teacher, national technology broker, graduated from Sichuan University, deputy director of the Beijing Normal Intellectual Property Committee, has been engaged in risk management and full-time lawyer work in group companies and law firms, served as legal counsel for a number of manufacturing and technology enterprises, participated in the construction and implementation of enterprise intellectual property management standard system for many times, participated in patent novelty search, patent mining and patent planning layout of many R&D projects, participated in a number of intellectual property litigation, and worked in enterprise intellectual property management, invalidation, review, He has rich experience in handling intellectual property cases such as infringement disputes.
Areas of Practice:Intellectual property legal services and anti-unfair competition.
Lawyer Luo Xiumei,A non-equity partner of the law firm, graduated from Southwest University of Political Science and Law, and served as the legal counsel of Jingshi (Chongqing) and a member of the Intellectual Property Professional Committee. Over the past 11 years, he has focused on corporate legal services, has many years of experience as the legal director of large group enterprises, served as the legal counsel of many enterprises, participated in a number of copyright and patent dispute infringement cases, and has accumulated rich experience in corporate legal risk prevention and control and intellectual property management.
Areas of Practice:Corporate counsel, intellectual property.