1, the concepts of trademark right and copyright
Trademark right refers to the right obtained by a trademark registrant to use the trademark exclusively for the specified goods or services. A trademark is a distinctive sign used by commodity producers and operators on the commodities they produce, manufacture, process, select and distribute or by service providers to distinguish the sources of commodities or services, and consists of words, figures, letters, numbers, three-dimensional symbols, color combinations or combinations of the above elements; In short, it is a mark used on a product or service, that is, a brand.
Copyright, also known as copyright, refers to the property rights and personal rights legally enjoyed by natural persons, legal persons or other organizations for literary, artistic or scientific works.
2, the protection object of both.
Trademark protection is a sign composed of characters, graphics, letters, numbers, three-dimensional signs, color combinations or the combination of the above elements. The protection of trademark rights is based on distinguishing the providers of goods or services.
Copyright protection works protected by copyright law. Works refer to intellectual achievements that are productive and can be reproduced in some tangible form in the fields of literature, art and science. Copyright protection is based on the creation (or originality) of a work.
3, two ways of protection
Copyright is generally generated automatically without going through some special procedures. According to the Copyright Law of People's Republic of China (PRC), Chinese citizens, legal persons and unincorporated organizations regard the completion of a work rather than the publication of the work as the symbol of copyright. To obtain a trademark right in China, you must go through the trademark registration procedure and apply first. The Trademark Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) stipulates that a trademark approved by the Trademark Office is a registered trademark, and the trademark registrant enjoys the exclusive right to use the trademark and is protected by law.
4. The significance of copyright registration.
According to the provisions of China's copyright law, copyright is automatically generated and works are registered voluntarily.
Whether a work is registered or not does not affect the copyright obtained by the author or other copyright owners according to law. However, in the practice of copyright protection, due to the unregistered copyright, it is impossible to effectively prove the existence of rights, which eventually leads to the failure of the case. What is the reason?
Why the significance of copyright registration becomes important at this time, and the necessity of registration can be summarized as follows:
1. Unless there is other evidence to the contrary that can prove the contents of the copyright registration certificate, the party holding the registration certificate will be recognized as the copyright owner of the work by the judicial organ or the administrative organ;
2. Copyright registration certificate, as proof of rights, is a prerequisite for copyright owners to start anti-piracy and rights protection actions;
3. Copyrights registration is a necessary procedure for China's security law to use the copyright of works to provide pledge guarantee for debts;
4. The copyright registration certificate is a necessary document that the right holder should submit to the evaluation institution when applying for evaluating the copyright value of a work;
5. copyright registration Certificate is a symbol of the competitiveness of the obligee.
5. Reasons for the conflict between trademark rights and copyright.
Copyright and trademark right are not the same in legal nature, but the boundary between them is not clear. Sometimes, the process of designing a trademark is also a process of creative intellectual labor. When a trademark reaches a certain level of creativity, it can become a work in the sense of copyright law. If the trademark registrant and the trademark designer are the same subject or authorized by the trademark designer, there will be no conflict of rights; However, if the two are not the same subject, for example, the pattern of trademark registration is not one's own work or even one's own work can't prove that it belongs to one's own rights, then the application for trademark registration will be affected.
6. Conflict between trademark right and copyright.
The conflict between trademark right and copyright is usually that the copyright ownership of the applied trademark is unknown. When the applicant applies for the work as a trademark, the copyright owner claims that the trademark copyright belongs to himself, but the trademark applicant is not authorized or can prove that the trademark copyright belongs to his own rights, which leads to copyright disputes based on the trademark work.
Therefore, when someone applies for a trademark that infringes its copyright, the applicant needs to provide proof of the copyright of the trademark. If the applicant can't provide valid proof, the trademark application will cause trouble. So far, the most effective and convenient way is the proof of copyright registration, so the significance of copyright registration at the same time of trademark application lies in this, that is, to ensure that the copyright based on the trademark belongs to itself, and there will be no dispute over copyright ownership in trademark application.
7. Resolution of conflict between trademark right and copyright.
If there is a dispute over the copyright of a trademark-based work, according to the relevant provisions of the Trademark Law, if the copyright owner has any objection to the registered trademark, he may apply to the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board for cancellation of the registered trademark, or request the court to order the trademark owner to stop using the registered trademark.
Due to the relatively limited trademark resources, weak awareness of independent innovation, driven by economic interests, legislative omissions and other reasons, conflicts between trademark rights and copyrights frequently occur. Therefore, when copyright conflicts with trademark rights or other rights, the confirmation of copyright is particularly important; Although copyright is automatically protected, this automatic protection can not effectively prove copyright rights when confirming the right, that is, there are disadvantages in automatic protection of copyright. Therefore, in order to avoid the ambiguity of the rights of works, it is a better way to ensure that there are no problems with trademark rights by registering copyright at the same time as trademark registration.