According to the provisions of the Trademark Law, a trademark holder may choose the following two legal approaches to claim his rights:
1. Lodge an objection to the Trademark Office on the trademark announced at the first instance
According to the provisions of Article 30 of the Trademark Law, "Any person may file an objection to a trademark that has been published after initial examination within three months from the date of publication."Where an owner believes that his trademark has been maliciously applied for registration in advance by another person, he may, if found out in time within the period of preliminary examination and approval of the trademark announcement, raise an objection to the Trademark Office and request the Trademark Office not to approve the registration.
2. To file a dispute with the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board over a registered trademark
According to the provisions of Article 41 of the Trademark Law, if an obligee believes that his trademark has been registered in advance by another person with malicious intent, he may apply to the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board for cancellation within five years from the date of registration of that trademark.
When the parties apply to the Trademark Office or the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board for objection or dispute and claim rights, they shall state their reasons and provide corresponding evidence in combination with the constitutive elements of the trademark squatting act analyzed above.These evidences should focus on two aspects: on the one hand, the trademark registrant has subjective malicious evidence, such as the commodity purchase and sales contract and correspondence related to the trademark in dispute between the two parties, and the written evidence that the trademark registrant demands an unreasonably high "trademark transfer fee" from the owner;On the other hand, it is the evidence of the prior use and publicity of the trademark dispute by the right holder, such as the commission contract and corresponding documents between the right holder and the trademark design and the printing unit of the trademark logo, the advertisement production and publication contract of the trademark, the newspaper and magazine that publish the trademark advertisement, and the purchase and sale contract and invoice of the trademark commodities.
It should be noted that the parties shall meet the prescribed requirements when submitting applications to the Trademark Office or the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board.For example, an application for an objection or dispute ruling should be filed within the time limit prescribed by the law, and relevant evidence materials should be submitted in one time as far as possible within the time limit.In order to gain strong support for their claims, the parties should try their best to submit evidence with high credibility, such as official documents produced by state organs according to their functions and powers, historical archives kept by specialized agencies, and publicity materials about trademarks published in influential news media.