Why do registered trademarks of popular film and television dramas become the norm？

Special feature of 1905 film network "Kong Sheng, once dreamed of returning to nirvana in fire."

Recently, the first cast of "Courtyard of the County Party Committee" was made public, and it was searched on major social platforms. After nirvana in fire, after seven years, Hugh and Kong Sheng cooperated again, which made many fans excited.

Prior to this, Noon Sunshine Company, the producer of the drama series, had registered the names of many TV dramas including nirvana in fire as trademarks. This phenomenon also happened in popular TV dramas such as My First Half Life.

Good film and television works are not only reflected in the box office and ratings, but also can form a complete development in the subsequent development, making it grow into a long-term vitality brand. Therefore, it is a commercial development and protection strategy to apply for the names of film and television works as trademarks.

Registered trademarks should be registered as early as possible.

Registered trademarks of popular film and television dramas have become the norm in the industry. On the one hand, this move is to protect intellectual property rights, on the other hand, it is also to prevent trademarks from being registered by others.

"In recent years, celebrity names, hot events, well-known company names, etc. have often been registered as trademarks by others. The popularity and popularity are often accompanied by huge traffic and potential commercial value. Popular film and television dramas are also facing this situation. Although film and television dramas enjoy copyright protection, their names are not protected by the Trademark Law before they are registered. Once they are registered by others to make profits, film and television companies will be very passive."

In an interview with 1905 Film Network, Wang Yahui, a lawyer of Beijing Anbo Law Firm, said that "actively registering a trademark can be protected by both the Copyright Law and the Trademark Law, so as to prevent it from being registered by others". At the same time, he believes that "it is also convenient to use trademarks to develop peripheral products, so that the heat brought by his works can be used by me."　

Excellent film and television dramas often have both cultural and commercial values. In addition to box office revenue, copyright development is of great value. It is reported that many film and television dramas have become trademarks precisely to facilitate the production and research of peripheral derivatives.

In the past, some companies sold inferior peripheral products by preempting the names of film and television dramas, which had a certain negative impact on the reputation of the producers. Therefore, in order to better protect their own interests, the producer needs to lay out the layout in advance and register the relevant trademarks as soon as possible.

Not long ago, the popular time drama "In the World" faced such an embarrassing situation. According to the data, there are more than 40 pieces of trademark application information for "Renshi", and the applicants include many companies including Beijing Yiwei Culture, the producer of the series.

Among them, there are 17 pieces of application information in 2022, and the application dates are all after the TV series is broadcast, and the current trademark status is "under application" or "pending substantive examination". More than 10 "human world" trademarks applied in 2021 and before have been successfully registered, and the earliest application time is January 2014.

Of course, not all the names of film and television dramas can be applied for trademarks.

If a film and television work name wants to apply for a registered trademark, it must meet the basic requirements and provisions of the Trademark Law on trademarks. Article 9 of the Trademark Law: A trademark applied for registration shall have distinctive features and be easy to identify, and shall not conflict with the legal rights previously obtained by others.

According to the above legal provisions, the name of a film and television work must have remarkable characteristics if it wants to apply for registration as a trademark name. As many Chinese words already exist, there is a high possibility of being registered as trademarks in the early stage. If the names of film and television dramas belong to such existing words, it is difficult to apply for trademark registration again.

In addition to the Chinese name being marked, the English translation of the film and the name of the protagonist in the film will also be registered as trademarks.

According to the data of Enterprise Search APP, during the hot screening of Dying to Survive in 2018, Beijing Bad Monkey Cultural Industry Development Company applied for 90 related trademark registrations. Among them, it includes the English translation of the film "DYING TO SURVIVE".

In 2017, Wolf Warriors, which starred in the film, was not only registered as a trademark in both Chinese and English, but also registered as a trademark covering fitness equipment and office supplies. In terms of the number of registrations, Beijing Dengfeng International Cultural Communication Co., Ltd. reached a record high of 260 in 2021.

For the film side, the registration of the names of film and television works as trademarks should be laid out in advance. This is not only conducive to protecting the interests of themselves and consumers, but also conducive to the long-term healthy development of the entire market.

Explosive film and television drama names registered trademarks become the norm.

In October, 2001, The Years Burning with Passion was broadcasted on Beijing TV.

Later, the drama successfully passed the examination and approval of the Trademark Office and became the first TV drama trademark in China. Subsequently, the registration of domestic popular film and television drama names as trademarks has gradually become a trend.

In the summer of 2019, it was born, constantly refreshing the box office record of domestic animated films, which attracted the attention of all parties. Fifteen days after its release, the producer of the film, Light Media, registered a large number of trademarks related to "Nezha", amounting to more than 1,800.

In September of the same year, Light Media registered the chapter and related trademarks of the "Trilogy of Gods Animation Universe" in advance. After a lapse of one year, the film was released in the eleventh file. Before the release, Legend of Deification has authorized the development of derivatives of shoes and clothing, hand-made, toys, publications and other categories.

At present, there are 45 categories of trademark registration, including almost all common commodity types. Categories 1 to 35 refer to commodity trademarks, and categories 35 to 45 refer to service trademarks. Film and television companies can select the categories of registered trademarks according to different functions such as "core industry category" and "closely related peripheral product category".

Among them, peripheral derivatives and services include: 28 kinds of "dolls, toys, game equipment" and so on; Category 14 "key chains (small ornaments or short chain ornaments)", etc. These movie peripheral products are more common.

It is reported that the trademark registration fee ranges from 100 yuan to 1,000 yuan, and it takes about one and a half years from the application to the final registration and successful certification. A large number of such trademarks registered by the producers undoubtedly cost a certain amount of manpower and material resources. Therefore, the names of popular TV dramas have the value of being registered as trademarks.

In recent years, the titles of explosive TV dramas such as,, and have been registered as trademarks by Bona Film, China Film and Beijing Culture respectively. It can be seen that the registrants of such trademarks are mostly the main producers.

At present, the registration of film and television drama names as trademarks is generally divided into four steps: determining the trademark name, determining the trademark graphics, handling the application procedures, and paying related fees. Once the trademark is successfully registered, the applicant will have the ownership and use right of the trademark. If the trademark has not been used for production and operation for three consecutive years, then other people or enterprises can apply for cancellation and re-registration.

For most film and television production companies, the number of film and television works developed or released in that year is directly proportional to the related trademark application. In the form of trademark pattern, it is generally white background+black characters of film and television drama names. This simple and easy-to-copy pattern design is beneficial to control the cost.

In the future, it is expected that more domestic film and television works will be registered as trademarks. This also means that the audience can enjoy more high-quality literary and artistic works.