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Applying for a trademark without the prior right holder's permission is an infringement

Netizen "Xiaoxiao" : A children's clothing company slightly modified a cartoon image known to the public in China and filed an application for registration with the State Trademark Office as a trademark. The company used the cartoon image as a trademark without informing its authors or paying any fees. Question: Did the company's actions comply with the law?

According to Article 31 of the Trademark Law, the application for trademark registration shall not prejudice the existing prior rights of others. The scope of prior rights is very broad, which can be intellectual property rights such as trademark rights, Copyrights or design rights, but also personal rights such as name rights and portrait rights. If the trademark registrant uses the trademark without the prior right holder's permission, it is an infringement. Therefore, a children's clothing company without permission to enjoy the copyright of the cartoon image of others slightly modified, as a trademark application registration does not conform to the provisions of our country's trademark law, infringes the copyright of the image of the author of the cartoon, its application for the trademark can not be registered, also can not be used as a trademark. Even if the trademark is registered, the copyright owner of the cartoon image can still request the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board to cancel the registered trademark within five years from the date of trademark registration, and can file an infringement lawsuit with the people's court to ask the company to stop the infringement and compensate for the loss.