On May 1, 2014 (April 3, 2014 in the lunar calendar), the new "Trademark Law" banned the promotion of "well-known trademarks". According to Xinhua Agency, the fourth meeting of the Standing Committee of the 12th National People's Congress voted on the 30th to adopt a decision on amending the Trademark Law. This is also the third revision of the Trademark Law since it was enacted in 1982. The new trademark law will come into effect on May 1, 2014. However, except for those who use the word "well-known trademark" on goods, product packaging or containers and have entered the circulation field before May 1, 2014. The new version of the Trademark Law has made a series of modifications and adjustments to address the current cumbersome Trademark Registering procedures, long time for trademark confirmation, and repeated prohibitions of malicious infringement of trademark rights. It is expected to further facilitate applicants to register trademarks, maintain a fair competition market order, and increase efforts to crack down on trademark infringement. The new trademark law has the following three major highlights-more convenient registration. The annual number of Trademark Registering applications in my country has ranked first in the world for many consecutive years. However, trademark review capabilities have lagged behind for a long time. The review cycle once exceeded three years, attracting strong attention from all walks of life. Although the Trademark Office of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce has taken various temporary measures to improve the efficiency of review and greatly shorten the trademark review cycle in recent years, current laws, regulations and rules do not stipulate the time limit for the review of Trademark Registering, resulting in the trademark rights of some enterprises being in a long-term state of uncertainty. In response to this situation, the new version of the Trademark Law clearly stipulates for the first time statutory work time limits such as the time limit for preliminary review of new trademark registration applications, the time limit for trial of opposition cases, the time limit for review of non-registration, the time limit for review of rejection, and the time limit for review of invalidation. In addition, the new version of the Trademark Law has also added provisions that "sound" can be used as Trademark Registering, added "one standard, multiple categories" Trademark Registering application method, opened up electronic application for Trademark Registering, and added trademark review communication procedures between the Trademark Office and applicants, which are expected to further facilitate applicants to register trademarks. Competition is fairer With the intensification of market competition, in recent years, some illegal operators have often resorted to illegal activities such as "free riding" and "relying on famous brands" to achieve unfair competition purposes such as encroaching on the goodwill of others and hindering others from entering the market, which has seriously damaged honest operators. The enthusiasm of operators reduces market efficiency and vitality. Using another person's registered trademark as a corporate brand name is a common unfair competition behavior at present. To this end, the new version of the Trademark Law clearly stipulates that it is prohibited to use other people's registered trademarks as corporate brands; and it is in line with the Anti-Unfair Competition Law, stipulating that the use of other people's registered trademarks and unregistered well-known trademarks as corporate names will mislead the public, If it constitutes unfair competition, it shall be dealt with in accordance with the Anti-Unfair Competition Law. Another person in charge of a company that owns the right to use "China Well-known Trademarks" said that "well-known Trademarks" have always represented the influence of a product. When seeing it on a product, consumers will have a psychological hint that they should feel more at ease when buying it. It is now prohibited to use "well-known trademarks" as publicity. On the same shelf, products that have been carefully operated for hundreds of years are on the same footing as ordinary products. Consumers who do not understand good brands will have no criterion for judgment. Is this also unfair to companies that operate carefully? How to reflect good products and how to get the support of management? More severe penalties for trademark infringement are small and the cost of rights protection is high. They have always been a prominent issue in the field of intellectual property protection in my country. In order to further curb trademark infringement and increase the protection of the exclusive right to use registered trademarks, the new version of the Trademark Law has added punitive damages provisions. For malicious infringement of the exclusive right to use the trademark and the circumstances are serious, the amount of compensation may be determined based on the losses suffered by the right holder due to the infringement, the infringement person. The benefits earned by the infringement or the registered trademark license fee shall be 1 to 3 times; At the same time, it also raised the upper limit of the statutory compensation that the court can decide at its discretion from 500,000 yuan to 3 million yuan if none of the above three bases cannot be ascertained. Industrial and commercial people said that "well-known trademarks" were originally a legal concept to strengthen the protection of higher-profile trademarks, and the original intention of establishing a well-known trademark system was to resolve trademark disputes. However, for a long time, market operators have regarded "well-known trademarks" as an honor, and enterprises have regarded "well-known trademarks" as a gold-lettered sign to promote products. They have printed the words "well-known trademarks" on packaging and widely used them in advertising. The strong market demand for the advertising effect of "well-known trademarks" has contributed to the alienation of the well-known trademark system to a certain extent. This time, the new "Trademark Law" adds prohibitive provisions on the promotion and use of "well-known trademarks", aiming to return "well-known trademarks" to a legal symbol. The new version of the Trademark Law also increases the amount of fines for trademark infringement based on the amount of illegal business operations; adds statutory severe penalties for trademark infringement, and severe penalties for trademark infringement committed more than twice within five years or if there are other serious circumstances. The development history of China's "Trademark Law" The development history of China's trademark system is relatively late. The existing official documents record the "Regulations for Registration of Commercial Brands" formulated on January 22, 1904 (a total of 14 articles). The first law on trademarks that truly belonged to China was the "Pilot Regulations for Trademark Registering"(28 articles in total) promulgated by the Qing government in June 1904, but it was repealed without timely implementation after promulgation. The picture above is the first "Trademark Bulletin" in history. Li Yuanhong, then President, also personally wrote an inscription "Knowing and Observing Things". If you want to see the trademarks of the old society, of course, you have to go to the Shili Yangting and the colorful Greater Shanghai. At that time, the prosperity of Yingying Yan Yan, and the Oriental Pearl River has created many time-honored brands and many famous trademarks, which have been passed down to this day. The logo above reminds everyone of the famous song "Night Raixiang". Recently, Jimmy even sang it in the happy male voice. From the most fashionable big world song and dance hall at that time, I have traveled through the rolling red dust and the passage of time, and I can still sing loudly until now. When I hear it, I feel like the red dust of purple dust is blowing in my face. Therefore, classics have to be accumulated over time. So does the creativity of this trademark come from this song? It's entirely possible to think about it. Through the singing of songs, the popularity of trademarks was quickly opened up. When it came to marketing, capitalists at that time had already gained their taste. In 1923, the Beiyang government promulgated the Trademark Law (44 Articles) and the Rules for the Implementation of the Trademark Law (37 Articles), which systematically stipulated the contents of Trademark Registering and trademark management. Article 36 of the Rules also stipulates 65 commodity classifications. In 1930, the Kuomintang government promulgated the "Trademark Law" and "Detailed Rules for the Implementation of the Trademark Law", which came into effect on January 1, 1931. In 1935, the Trademark Law was revised (69 articles in total), and in 1932, the "Rules for the Implementation of the Trademark Law" were revised. The trademark law of this period had a strong semi-feudal and semi-colonial color. Whenever there were trademark disputes between China and foreign countries, foreign trademarks were always protected. After the founding of New China, the trademark laws and regulations of the Kuomintang government and the trademark privileges of foreign powers were abolished, and the trademarks left over before liberation were re-registered and renewed. On July 28, 1950, the State Council approved the implementation of the Interim Regulations on Trademark Registering (34 articles in total), which was the first unified trademark management regulation in New China. On the same day, the Financial and Economic Committee of the State Council promulgated the "Implementation Rules of the Interim Regulations on Trademark Registering"(30 articles in total) and the Commodity Classification Table of the Central Private Enterprise Bureau. On April 10, 1963, the State Council promulgated the "Regulations on Trademark Administration"(14 articles in total). On April 25 of the same year, the Central Administration for Industry and Commerce promulgated the "Implementation Rules of the Regulations on Trademark Administration"(21 articles in total). Article 21 of the "Rules" published a classification table of 78 categories of goods (which was in use until October 31, 1988). The regulations were formulated to meet the basic completion of the socialist transformation of production materials after 1956, strengthen trademark management, and encourage enterprises to ensure and improve product quality. They have a strong planned economy color. In September 1978, the State Council decided to establish the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, with a Trademark Office established. On August 23, 1982, the 24th meeting of the Standing Committee of the Fifth National People's Congress passed the "Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China"(43 articles in total), which came into effect on March 1, 1983. The law was revised for the 30th time by the Standing Committee of the Seventh National People's Congress on February 22, 1993 and is the current trademark law of my country. On March 10, 1983, the State Council promulgated and implemented the "Rules for the Implementation of the Trademark Law"(34 articles in total). The Rules were revised three times on January 13, 1988, July 15, 1993, and April 25, 1995 and are still effective. After my country joined the Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization in 1980 and became a member of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property on March 19, 1985, it officially adopted the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purpose of Trademark Registering and the International Classification of Graphic Elements of Trademarks on November 1, 1988. In 1989, it officially joined the Madrid Agreement on the International Registration of Trademarks. In this way, my country has become a member of the multilateral international protection family of trademark rights. It also marks the further improvement of my country's trademark legal system. In order to comply with international treaties and strengthen trademark protection, the Trademark Law and the Implementation Rules of the Trademark Law have been revised several times. The current Trademark Law (43 articles in total) was revised on February 22, 1993. The 30th meeting of the Standing Committee of the Seventh National People's Congress was revised. The current Implementation Rules of the Trademark Law (50 articles in total) were approved by the State Council and promulgated on May 12, 1995 by Order No. 3 of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce. The State Administration for Industry and Commerce has also formulated, revised and promulgated seven administrative regulations, further promoting and developing my country's trademark industry.