Tencent's voice trademark died for the second time. Why is it so difficult to apply for a voice trademark?

Voice trademark is also one of the eight forms of trademark application, and other forms include words, graphics, letters, numbers, three-digit signs, color combinations and so on. However, it was not until the implementation of the new Trademark Law of 20 14 that the Trademark Office began to accept sound trademarks. Two years later, on February 3, 20 16, the application for the first domestic sound trademark of the opening song of China Radio International was preliminarily approved, becoming the first domestic sound trademark. Last year, Tencent also applied for a voice trademark, but it was rejected because it was not significant. Recently, QQ's "Manke" voice application trademark was also rejected, and the subsequent rejection review was unsuccessful. Is the phonetic trademark so difficult? Why does Tencent's "male cough" lack meaning? Tencent's awareness of intellectual property protection is commendable. 20 14 after China began to accept the voice trademark, Tencent presented this person's trademark to the Trademark Office on May 4th, 20 14. Designated services include Article 42 Remote data backup, electronic data storage, cloud computing, software operation services, information technology consulting services, hosting computer stations (websites), computer virus protection services, and providing Internet search. It is reported that this sound trademark consists of two relatively low and short male cough sounds "ke-ke". It is the man's cough when a stranger requests to add a friend in the QQ application on the PC side. Anyone who has used QQ should be familiar with it. According to Article 11, paragraph 1 (3) and Article 30 of the Trademark Law, the Trademark Office rejected the application for trademark registration on the grounds that "the trademark is a cough for men, which is not significant in the designated service items and does not have the function of trademark identification". Tencent refuses to accept trademark review. The reason for the review is that the QQ instant messaging platform 1999 came out, and now it has a huge audience, and the trademark application is also familiar to consumers. The applied trademark itself has the distinctiveness that a trademark should have. After long-term and extensive publicity and use, it has established a unique corresponding relationship with the applicant, which can completely distinguish the service sources. After trial, the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board held that the applied trademark is the voice of a person coughing, and it is not easy to be recognized as a trademark when it is designated for use in services such as cloud computing, and it lacks the distinctive features of a trademark, which belongs to the situation referred to in Item (3) of Paragraph 1 of Article 11 of the Trademark Law. The use evidence submitted by the applicant does not involve the use of the applied trademark in cloud computing and other services, and cannot prove that the applied trademark is significant after use. In accordance with the provisions of Article 11, paragraph 1 (3), Article 30 and Article 34 of the Trademark Law, all applications for trademark registration in the reexamination service are rejected. Why is it so difficult to apply for a sound trademark? When China revised the Trademark Law for the third time in 20 13, the voice trademark was included in the list of registrable trademarks. Since the implementation of the current Trademark Law on May 20 14, the Trademark Office has accepted about 600 applications for the registration of sound trademarks, but only about 20 have been approved for registration. For consumers in China, the sound trademark is a new thing, whether as a new trademark form in law or as an example in real life. Consumers have long been accustomed to traditional trademarks in the form of words and graphics, and rarely use sound as a sign to distinguish the source of goods or services. The distinctiveness of a trademark includes inherent distinctiveness and distinctiveness obtained through use. Inventions, such as Sony and Kodak, as trademarks, have inherent distinctiveness and meet the requirements of trademark law for distinctiveness. Then, can an original sound trademark, such as a short piece of self-created music, meet the requirements of trademark distinctiveness without actual use? According to the standards of trademark examination and trial, in general, sound trademarks need to be used for a long time to obtain distinctive features. Setting this limit should take into account the particularity of consumer cognition mentioned above. After all, it is difficult for consumers to directly identify a non-traditional trademark, such as a sound trademark, as a sign indicating the source of goods or services. Only through the long-term publicity and use of the operators can consumers establish a connection between a certain sound and the operators, and then make the sound have the remarkable characteristics when it is registered as a trademark. An applicant for trademark registration may submit relevant use evidence to the Trademark Office or the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board to prove that his voice trademark has achieved remarkable characteristics after use. Voice trademarks can be used in various ways, including in the process of opening, closing or using goods, in the process of starting, ending or providing services, in business or service places, on company websites, in radio, television, internet or outdoor advertisements, etc.