On The Protection Of The Rights Of Time-honored Trade Names

The "time-honored brand" is a traditional commercial resource and an important carrier of Chinese business culture.As a symbol of inheritance,in the long river of time,it has accumulated the concept of honesty for decades or even centuries,condensing generations and even it is the hard work of generations.The time-honored brands witnessed the historical trend of Chinese culture,and its strong regional folk customs,all of which exudes a unique humanistic charm to the world.As a special trade name,the time-honored brands have experienced the unique historical and cultural value of the market,and they have hidden huge commercial value and solid competitive advantage.Therefore,the popularity is far beyond the general trade name.With the rapid development of the modern economy,the time-honored brand has encountered many "emergencies" in the process of development--in recent years,there have been too many time-honored enterprises have been affected by different degrees and different sources.According to the "China Judgment Documents Network" inquiry,from 2012 to 2018,the national court system had more than 3,000 adjudicative documents on disputes between time-honored brands and registered trademarks.In practice,there are many other types of time-honored cases that may not be resolved through judicial decisions.This roughly estimates that infringement disputes of time-honored brands in recent years has remained at a considerable amount.The time-honored brands have been around for a long time,and most of them have experienced two major reforms of China's economic system.Its rich historical atmosphere,excellent cultural temperament and unique heritage charm make the time-honored brands have a distinctive interest pattern.Because China has not given three-dimensional protection to the trade name right of time-honored brands,coupled with the historical entanglement,the incentives of economic interests,etc.,the time-honored brands have repeatedly become the object of many market entities.The rights of the old name holders have encountered obstacles,the legitimate rights and interests of consumers have been violated,and the fair competition order of the market has been destroyed.Therefore,in order to effectively resolve the conflict between history and reality,seek the balance of interests and institutions,and improve the legal system of the protection of the time-honored brands and trade name from many aspects,it becomes a realistic requirement,and it is also the focus of the current legal system of trade name.At present,the legal system of our country's firm still lacks reasonable and clear definition and system design.The protection of the rights and interests of the time-honored brand has become a hot topic of discussion.Some scholars have done some research on the protection of the time-honored brand,but most scholars have started from economics and management,focusing on the dissemination of the time-honored brand,market promotion,and the protection of old brands 'cultural heritage through the improvement of business management.There are fewer scholars who study the protection of the time-honored brands in legal terms,but even in legal terms,they mainly focus on conflicts between the time-honored brands rights and the trademark rights and other rights,and there are few systematic studies.The research significance of this article lies in the case around the core theme,aiming to pave the way for the development of time-honored brand,so that the time-honored brands can continue to be active in the market with high quality and high credibility.This article first put forward three questions with the case of "Wuliangcai" and made it clear that special protection should be given to the time-honored brand.Secondly,through the definition of the time-honored brand,clarify that the time-honored brand is different from the normal trade name,and further reveal the system value of the time-honored brand,clarify the necessity of protecting the rights of the time-honored brand.Finally,the problems existing in the protection of the rights of the time-honored brand are divided into four major categories,namely,conflicts of rights,malicious seizure,"hitchhiking",and diluted infringement,and the reasons for the concise summary of the problems.Finally,the author puts forward some suggestions to perfect the protection system of firm rights of the time-honored brand in China.