Research On The Identification Of The Distinctiveness Of Sound Trademarks

With the rapid development of economic activities,commercial activities shows prosperity as well,so that the types and forms of trademark have got increasingly various and non-traditional trademarks have gradually shown up.The Chinese Trademark law 2013 Edition included ‘sound trademark' into the scope of trademark's registration,which is undoubtedly one big step forward in legislation.Although the new Trademark Law starts to protect sound trademark,However,relevant regulations and system designs are not that improved and complete because of the short time.In particular,the new Trademark Law hasn't been sufficiently detailed in specific provisions of sound trademark,such as identification of infringement;the registration of sound trademark;or the distinctiveness issues.No matter legal provisions and practical operations,there are deficiencies existed more or less.Even if the new Trademark Law has already been carried out,but in the process of implementation,so many problems concerning the distinctiveness of sound trademark are easy to be noticed,which concludes that it is very much disbeneficial to the registration and protection of sound trademark.Since our country adopted the traditional trademark theory which could not match the brand-new sound trademark for the lack of legislative materials and research materials in practice and theory.Domestically,the new Trademark Law only recognizes sound trademark on the legislative aspect,and a series of provisions such as specific details,examination standards,distinctiveness determination,and sound trademark protection are all left blank.Based on the above-mentioned issues,this article firstly starts from studying relevant legislative provisions and judicial practices about distinctive recognition of sound trademark in countries and regions like EU,U.S.,Australia,China Taiwan and China Hong Kong.Then under the existing system and framework in China,this article combines the deficiencies in recognition of the distinctiveness of sound trademark,draws on the experience of relevant parties in other countries and regionsfor detailed and in-depth analysis and research and finally put forward some insights and countermeasures of our own criteria for the refinement of sound trademark recognition standard.We hope that we can make some little contribution to improvement of sound trademark theory in China,and at the same time the author also hope to better protect the rights and interests of consumers and enterprises by strengthening their recognition of the source of goods or services to promote the healthy and rapid development of the market economy.This article systematically study on how to identify the distinctiveness of sound trademarks in China.It is consisted of five sectors: 1.the introduction,which briefly describes background,research status,research methods and innovations of the article;2.Introduction to relevant theories of sound trademark.It mainly compares and analyzes sound trademark and traditional trademark,then summarizes the basic features and functions and defines the notion of distinctiveness of sound trademark,namely,the recognition and differentiation.At the same time,according to the different methods of acquisition,the distinctiveness of sound trademark is divided into intrinsic significance and acquired significance;3.the problems and deficiencies in the recognition of the distinctiveness of sound trademark under existing framework,it is mainly adopts the case of China's Apollo Group v.Coca-Cola advertising song case and Tengcent's QQ message prompting “di di di di di di” as an example,summarizes the problems and deficiencies in the determination of the distinctiveness of sound trademark in China;4.studying the legislative provisions on sound trademark recognition in countries and regions at home and abroad,such as the EU,the U.S.,Australia,China Taiwan and China Hong Kong,summarizes relevant experiences and drawing lessons from our country's legislation and judicial practice;5.Proposing countermeasures and suggestions for the significant recognition of sound trademark in China based on the aforementioned introductions and researches.