Research On The Standardization Of Sound Trademark Saliency

With the rapid development of information technology in the 21 st century,the business mode of the enterprise is constantly changing,the scale of operation is expanding,and the business scope of many enterprises has expanded from offline to the virtual field of the Internet.The prosperity of the real economy and e-commerce has brought a large number of trademark registration requirements..The registrable scope of trademarks has expanded from a single visual text,graphics,etc.to color combinations and sounds.Compared with the traditional visual trademark,the sound trademark has its advantage of being rich in the fact that the sound transmission does not depend on the carrier,the spread is wider,and the problem of poor information transmission between different language families can also be Perfect solution.It is precisely because of its unique advantages that a large number of sound trademarks are applied for registration after the implementation of the new Trademark Law,and sound trademarks have a place in many trademark types in China.And as technology develops and people's needs continue to increase,the number of registered voice trademarks will continue to increase.China's "New Trademark Law" came into effect on May 1,2014,and the sound mark has become a new type of trademark that can be registered.China has also become one of the countries that officially recognize the registrability of sound trademarks.At the end of 2018,the "Tencent Prompt" case,which was highly concerned by public opinion,finally settled.The Beijing Higher People's Court rejected the appeal of the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board and upheld the judgment of the Beijing Intellectual Property Court on the case.This is the first case of judicial confirmation of sound trademarks in China's history.At present,China's legal system for sound trademarks is not perfect.Only the Trademark Law,the Trademark Law Implementation Regulations and the Trademark Review and Trial Standards stipulate the rules for the registration of sound trademarks.Difficulties still exist in the identification of sound marks,versatility and the exclusion of functional sound marks.This paper is divided into four parts,the specific structure and content are as follows:The first part starts with the theoretical basis of sound trademarks and attempts to explore the particularity of sound trademarks.Firstly,the concept of sound trademark and the essential elements of sound trademark are clarified.Secondly,the particularity of sound trademark is discussed.The particularity of sound trademark is studied from the following two aspects: its function and characteristics;The classification method of sound trademark saliency is broadly divided into: intrinsic saliency and saliency,de facto salience and legal salience,relative saliency and absolute saliency.Finally,it introduces the current practice in China.A method to identify it.The second part discusses the current status and predicament of the distinctive identification of sound trademarks.This part first analyzes the status quo of sound mark saliency from three aspects: the registration of sound trademarks,the practice of judicial recognition,and the relevant legal provisions.Secondly,it analyzes the predicament of the current saliency determination,mainly from the imperfect legal protection provisions and the significant judgment standards.Four aspects of research and analysis are unclear,versatile sound and functional sound limitation standards are unclear,and voice trademark expression methods are problematic.The third part studies the extraterritorial experience of sound brand distinctiveness.First,the different expressions of the sound trademarks are listed.Throughout the legislation of various countries,there are three expressions of sound trademarks: text,map,and hybrid.Secondly,it examines the relevant legislations of the US,EU and Australia sound trademarks.By analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of the extraterritorial sound trademarks,the authors can draw lessons from the system experience that China can learn from when improving relevant laws.The fourth part provides some suggestions and references for the review criteria of the distinctive identification of sound trademarks in China through the above analysis.First of all,improve the relevant legal system from the reverse enumeration of the types of sound trademarks that are prohibited from registration,the prohibition of registration of universal sound trademarks,the improvement of voice trademark expressions,and the refinement of sound trademarks and regulatory documents;secondly,the second meaning of the sound trademark "Criteria for review,the distinction and discrimination of consumers,the time and scope of use of sound trademarks,etc.;in the end,the use of artificial intelligence,search platforms and other scientific and technological means to determine the distinctiveness of sound trademarks.