中国公司成为全球重要的商标申请人

2021年1月1日至2021年6月30日期间提交商标申请的统计数据
FILING STATS FOR THE PERIOD 1 JANUARY 2021 – 30 JUNE 2021
美国：注册商标申请超过35万件，比2020年上半年增长47%。
USA: over 350 000 trade mark applications were filed, an increase of 47% on the first half of 2020.
英国：超过9万份的商标申请，比2020年上半年增长69%。
UK: over 90 000 trade mark applications were filed, an increase of 69% on the first half of 2020.
欧洲联盟：提交了超过8.8万份商标申请，比2020年上半年增加了27%。
European Union (EUIPO): over 88 000 trade mark applications were filed, an increase of 27% on the first half of 2020.
澳大利亚：约提交35000份商标申请，比2020年上半年增加了16%。
Australia: some 35 000 trade mark applications were filed, an increase of 16% over the first half of 2020.
谁在提交这些商标申请?
WHO'S FILING THESE TRADE MARK APPLICATIONS?
是中国公司。而且数据相当惊人:
Chinese companies. The figures here are quite remarkable:
在美国申请的35万件商标中，中国申请人超过10万件，约占29%。这比去年增加了256%。
Of the 350 000 trade mark applications filed in the USA, Chinese applicants accounted for over 100 000 of them, some 29%. This is an increase of 256% over last year.
在欧盟，中国申请人占申请总数的20%，远远超过德国和意大利。
In the EU, Chinese applicants accounted for 20% of the filings, well ahead of local heavyweights Germany and Italy.
在英国，中国公司提交的申请比去年增加了298%。
In the UK, filings by Chinese companies are up 298% from last year.
在澳大利亚，中国公司的申请数量增长了57%。
In Australia, filings by Chinese companies have grown by 57%.
那我们该如何看待这些数据呢?
SO, WHAT ARE WE TO MAKE OF THESE FIGURES?
我们之前就说过这一点，但还得再说一遍。商标保护应该是任何商业计划的关键组成部分。这既适用于大公司，也适用于小公司。许多公司没有任何可以申请专利的发明，没有任何可以注册为工业设计的产品设计，也没有任何可以通过著作权法加以保护的软件。然而，他们都有自己的商业身份或产品身份，这可以且应该通过商标法加以保护。该数据表明，许多公司深谙这一点。
We've made the point before but it's worth making again. Trade mark protection should be a key component of any business plan. This applies to large companies as well as small ones. Many companies will not have any inventions that they can patent, product designs that they can register as industrial designs, or software that they can protect through the law of copyright. Yet they will all have a business or product identity that they can and should protect through the law of trade marks. The stats suggest that many companies do understand this.
商标保护
TRADE MARK PROTECTION
简而言之，就是商标保护的内容：
This, in a nutshell, is what trade mark protection comprises:
理解什么是品牌。从本质上讲，它是任何能将产品（商品或服务）与其他产品（商品或服务）区别开来的特征。的确，几乎总会有一个品牌名称，但品牌还有很多其他表现形式：商标、条纹、颜色组合，甚至可能还有更模糊的东西，比如声音。
Understanding what a brand is. In essence, it is any feature that can distinguish the product (goods or services) from those of others. Yes, there will almost invariably be a brand name, but there are many other forms of brands: logos, straplines, colour combinations, possibly even more obscure things like sounds.
创办一个可以使用、保护和授权的品牌（商标）。品牌创建过程的第一步要求你压抑选择描述产品的名称或标识的正常冲动。你要的是能让你在竞争中脱颖而出的东西。
Creating a brand (trade mark) that can be used, protected and licensed. The first step in the brand creation process requires you to resist the perfectly normal urge to choose a name or logo that describes the product. What you want is something that will make you to stand out from the competition.
了解自己品牌。商标搜索是有成本的，但与商标侵权索赔的辩护费用相比，这算不了什么。
Clearing your brand. Yes, there is a cost involved to trade mark searching but it's nothing compared to the expense of defending a trade mark infringement claim.
通过商标注册保护品牌。选择在最重要的国家和最重要的产品类别进行注册。对于在国外司法管辖区经营的公司来说，或许可以通过国际体系《马德里协议》来保护它们。
Protecting the brand through trade mark registrations. These registrations will be in the most important countries and in the most important product categories. For companies that operate in foreign jurisdictions, there may be ways of protecting these through the international system, the Madrid Protocol.
签订商标许可协议，能够拓展业务。
Entering into trade mark licence arrangements where they might enable you to increase your business.
当商标受到侵权时使用。
Enforcing your trade mark when it is infringed.
对合作安排（如联合品牌）持开放态度，但要确保权利得到保障。
Being open to partnership arrangements such as co-branding. But make sure that your rights are safeguarded.