Trademark Law. Registered trademarks are protected under the Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China adopted in 1982 and amended in 1993 and 2001. The PRC Trademark Office of the State 208 Administration of Industry and Commerce is responsible for the registration and administration of trademarks throughout China. The PRC Trademark Law has adopted a "first-to-file" principle with respect to trademark registration. When applying for trademark registration, an applicant must indicate the classes of goods or services for which the trademark is to be registered. China is a party to the Nice Agreement and follows the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks (trademark classification), or the Nice Classification. The Nice Classification includes 44 classes including 34 classes of goods and 11 classes of services. The classification is made according to various criteria, such as functions, usages, materials for goods, or industries for services. Where a trademark is identical or similar to another trademark that has already been registered or been subject to a preliminary examination and approval for use on the same kind of or similar goods or services, the application for registration of such trademark may be rejected. Any person applying for the registration of a trademark shall not prejudice the existing rights of others obtained by priority, nor shall any person register in advance a trademark that has already been used by another person and that has already gained a "sufficient degree of reputation" through that person's use. After receiving an application, the PRC Trademark Office will make a public announcement if the relevant trademark passes the preliminary examination. Within three months after such public announcement, any person may file an opposition against a trademark that has passed a preliminary examination. The PRC Trademark Office's decisions on rejection, opposition or cancellation of an application may be appealed to the PRC Trademark Review and Adjudication Board, whose decision may be further appealed through judicial proceedings. If no opposition is filed within three months after the public announcement period or if the opposition is overruled, the PRC Trademark Office will approve the registration and issue a registration certificate, upon which the trademark is registered and will be effective for a renewable ten-year period, unless otherwise revoked.
Trademark Law. Trademarks serve their owners in advertising and selling of their products and services. They also enable consumers to make their choice between the various goods and services available on the market. A trademark is any sign that individualizes the goods of a given enterprise and distinguishes them from the goods of its competitors or other third parties. In order to fulfil their distinguishing function for consumers – who wish to make a choice between various products and services – trademarks must be legally protected. Otherwise competitors could use identical signs for the same or similar products and services. That would ultimately lead to confusion as to the origin of the goods or services. In order for the Trustee to identify the origin of its services, it might be worthwhile to apply for trademark registrations. In the European Union there is actually a four-tier system for registering trademarks. First of all it is possible to register via the national route, a trademark application is filed at any national IP office. Second, there is the Benelux system. A Benelux trademark registration offers protection in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. The third route is a trademark registration at the European Union Intellectual Property Office. An EU trademark offers protection in all 28 member states. Therefore, we consider this an obvious method of registration within in the NexTrust context. A fourth possible way is the international registration, A national or EU trademark application is required to expand protection internationally. After registration of the trademark, the term of trademark protection is ten years. It can be renewed indefinitely on payment of additional fees.
Trademark Law. Trademark law protects words, symbols, and other indicia that serve to identify the source of goods or services against confusingly similar uses in commerce. Examples of protectable trademarks include corporate and product names (e.g., Apple Computer, Inc., and iMac as a name of a computer made by Apple), logos (e.g., the cube-like shape that signifies Sun Microsystem’s products), slogans (e.g., “Intel inside”), and product configurations (e.g., nonfunctional aspects of computer keyboard layouts) as long as the significance of the symbol lies principally in designating the origin of goods or services. The word, symbol, or indicia cannot be merely a description of the good itself, or a generic term for a class of goods or services.10 Further, the identifying mark must not be a functional element of the product itself, but must principally serve an identifying purpose. Functionality in the context of trademark law means that there is no competitive necessity for other market participants to use the same or a very similar designation in order to compete effectively in the market. In addition, trademark owners forfeit their rights by licensing their mark to others without controlling and monitoring the nature and quality of the goods or services with which the mark is used. Finally, trademark protection is directly tied to the use of the mark to identify goods or services in commerce. Under U.S. law, trademarks do not expire on any particular date; they continue in force until “abandoned” by their owner. In some countries, however, as Chapter 8 explains, trademark rights arise by virtue of registration and may expire unless renewed in a timely fashion. While state common law and statutory law may offer significant protection to trademarks in the United States, the most significant source of trademark protection on a national basis is that conferred under the federal trademark law known as the Xxxxxx Act, 15 U.S.C. §§1051 et seq. This Act establishes a procedure by which federal officials examine trademark registration applications and issue trademark registrations that confer significant benefits upon the registrants. However, federal trademark registration is not necessary to obtain trademark protection. A trademark owner who believes that another is using the same or a similar mark to identify competing goods can bring suit for trademark infringement under state law. The ultimate question in trademark litigation is whether consumers are likely to be confused...
Trademark Law. The domain names registered by the client are his sole responsibility. The client undertakes to respect the legislation in force concerning trademark law. MIXIT7 reminds the client that trademark infringement is punishable by law. It is in fact a criminal offence. Penalties that can be imposed include fines, imprisonment and closure of the establishment. MIXIT7 cannot be held responsible for the client's failure to comply with legislation and reminds the client that in the event of civil or criminal proceedings against the client, MIXIT7 may suspend the use of the client's domain name following an injunction issued by a judicial authority.
