Determine The Distinctiveness Of Sound Trademark

Since the fourth amendment of the "Trademark Law" stipulated that sounds can be registered as trademarks,many enterprises have intentionally registered sound trademarks in order to build their brands and increase their popularity.However,from a practical point of view,the registration volume of sound trademarks does not account for a large proportion of the overall trademark registrations.The reasons are as follows: First,the traditional trademark theory is implemented in China's practice.There is a lack of theoretical research and practical experience with non-traditional trademarks such as sound trademarks,and there are ambiguous areas in understanding some issues,such as the non-traditional trademarks of sound trademarks.How to determine the significance and so on.Second,the administrative authorities have raised the barriers to entry in order to prevent malicious hoarding of registered trademarks,which has further exacerbated the difficulty of registering sound trademarks.Aiming at the current situation of the vigorous development of China's trademark market,it is of practical significance to study the legal issues of sound trademark registration in combination with relevant theories and practices.This article takes the distinctiveness of sound trademarks as the main line.First,it explores the connotation and specific characteristics of sound trademarks from a basic theoretical level,and elaborates the basic criteria of distinctiveness of sound trademarks.Second,the legislative status of distinctive recognition of sound trademarks in related countries and regions outside the country: such as the "Lanham Act" and "Trademark Examination Guidelines",the European Union "European Community Trademark Regulations",the French "Intellectual Property Code",and the German "Trademark Law and other specific analysis;judicial practice,the United States General Electric case and Harley-Davidson case and other typical cases are analyzed.On the basis of the foregoing discussion,the fourth part of the thesis focuses on the analysis of the relevant legislation and judicial status of the distinctiveness of sound trademarks in China: expounds the content,characteristicsand existing problems of China's current legislation;"The first case of sound trademark" is the starting point.It analyzes the specific issues in the trial of sound trademark cases in China,and analyzes it from the legal level.At the end of the thesis,specific suggestions are made on how to improve the distinctiveness of sound trademarks in China: the legislative aspect should clarify the examination standards for the inherent distinctiveness of sound trademarks and the use of acquired distinctiveness,and clearly prohibit the registration of functional sounds as trademarks.Judicial practice should be based on the consumer's perspective of using inspections to obtain significance,and pay attention to the role of a professional review team in the review process.In addition,the use of multiple forms to store samples of sound trademarks and improving the retrieval of sound trademarks should also be an issue that should be paid attention to in the registration of sound trademarks in China.