Research On The Criteria For Determining The Distinctiveness Of Sound Trademarks In China

The newly added clauses of the Trademark Examination and Hearing Standards revised in2016 established that the examination of sound trademarks adopts the criterion of acquired salience,and made special provisions on inherent salience.In Chinese practice,the trademark review committee and the court generally review the application of sound trademark after a long time of use,to ensure that there is a significant standard for registration.Our application of sound trademark does not meet the registration conditions is generally dismissed because the evidence is not enough to prove its significance.At present,the significant recognition standard of sound trademark is not perfect.There are some problems such as unclear long-term use time,insufficient evidence and not clearly demonstrated,and the identification factors are not detailed.In order to solve the existing problems,combining with the provisions of the United States in the recognition standards of the sound trademark significance and combining with the actual situation of our country,this paper puts forward the importance of the position of the sound trademark inherent significance in judicial practice,and clearly defines the sound trademark significance as the five-year standard to improve the suggestions.Based on the Australian regulations on the recognition standard of the distinctness of sound trademarks,this paper puts forward some suggestions that the public’s cognition of sound trademarks should be considered as an important factor.Combined with the provisions of other countries on the recognition standards for the distinctness of voice trademarks,the administrative and judicial departments are proposed to have a unified judgment basis,and the specific judgment factors for the distinctness of voice trademarks can be clarified.Detailed regulations can be made from the aspects of advertising,commodity sales,audience groups,influence and so on.We appropriately introduce the improvement suggestions such as consumer investigation system.