It costs more than 1000 yuan to register a trademark, and it can be sold for tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands or millions of yuan. Such a huge profit margin has made many individuals and institutions enjoy investing in trademarks. Because of the low operating threshold, trademark trading has mixed many forces, such as professional trademark registrants, trademark agencies, merchants, enterprises, natural persons and so on, forming a chaotic river and lake, and staged an increasingly fierce trademark battle. This group of people always pay attention to the policy orientation and public opinion hotspots, keep an eye on and grab some valuable trademarks, and seek to increase the price and transfer in the future. It is understood that after successful trademark registration, some trademark investors will directly contact the registered enterprises, and as long as the negotiations between the two sides are smooth, they will be able to make profits. If the other party is unwilling to spend money to buy a trademark, the trademark investor can sue the enterprise for infringing its trademark and force it to compromise. And it is a lawsuit to the court, demanding high compensation. In the eyes of trademark investors, trademarks are their products. However, there is no uniform standard on how to price this product. The whole market is in disorder. Basically, the trademark owner sets the price himself, and the trademark agent is like a real estate agent. The customer puts the quotation and helps to push it out. In this interest chain, some people get rich overnight, others lose everything, and more people are waiting for opportunities. The news that registered trademarks were bought by enterprises at high prices constantly stimulated their nerves and aroused their enthusiasm. In order to further seize and win the market, some trademark investment companies have strengthened their determination to study the market. A trademark investment company put forward the slogan of "let customers win at the starting line" and implemented the market segmentation strategy. The relevant person in charge told the reporter that the trademarks they handled were all designed according to market segments. For example, the trademark of women's wear is divided into intellectual category, elegant category, humorous category and professional category, and then marketing is implemented. Experts suggest that enterprises should register trademarks at the initial stage, and comprehensively protect trademarks through various legal channels such as domain name, appearance patent and copyright registration, so as to prevent others from malicious cybersquatting. Xiaolong (pseudonym), a full-time individual with low threshold for trademark registration, has been engaged in trademark investment for five years. The reporter asked why he chose the trademark investment industry, and his answer was:' interested'. At present, Xiaolong's annual trademark investment income is around 300,000. According to his words, although it is also' muddling along', it is' better than working'. According to the relevant provisions of the Trademark Law revised by 200 1, the current trademark registration adopts the principle of applying first, and natural persons are also eligible to apply. This provision once led to the intensification of the trademark registration war, which directly gave birth to a number of professional trademark registrants. In order to curb the blind rush to register trademarks, in 2007, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce issued the Notes for Natural Persons to Apply for Trademark Registration, which restricted the conditions for natural persons to apply for trademark registration, that is, they must be individual industrial and commercial households, individual partnerships, rural contracted households and other natural persons who are allowed to engage in business activities according to law. Although it has narrowed the scope and pertinence to a certain extent, this' threshold' has not blocked all those who intend to make profits through trademark registration. As the saying goes, "there are policies on the top and countermeasures on the bottom", many natural persons like Xiaolong began to register their own companies in order to operate their own trademarks. I applied to register a company in Hong Kong, which cost less than 3000 yuan. I just need a copy of my ID card and my signature, and it will be ready in nine working days. Xiaolong told reporters. The cost for natural persons to invest in trademarks through registered companies is not high. Moreover, even if a natural person does not have a registered company, he can still obtain a registered trademark through an agency, and he only needs to pay the agency fee. Therefore, according to the statistics of some trademark offices, the number of self-employed individuals applying for registered trademarks has not decreased significantly every year. The reporter learned from the practitioners in the trademark agency market that the trademark agency price of the trademark agency registration agency is not high at present, and the line price is generally below 2000 yuan. Some trademark agents even push the price to 1200 yuan in order to grab business. Because there is basically no cost, price often becomes the focus of their competition. The reporter inquired about the quotations of several trademark registration agencies. Mr. Li, the trademark agent, told the reporter: "Customers can decide whether the trademark is Chinese or English, or a combination of Chinese and English. We can help design it here." . Design fee 1 1,000 yuan until the design is satisfactory. We can also help customers make free inquiries and analyze the probability of successful application in Chinese and English. "A trademark agent said that including design, their quotation was only 1800 yuan. But there is also an agent who is only responsible for agency registration, not design, but the charging standard is still 1800 yuan. In addition to trademark agency companies, some businesses engaged in business activities have also started trademark agency business. A staff member of QQ Online Shopping Store, a brand watch store in Hong Kong, told the reporter that their main business is e-commerce B2C and monopoly in major cities across the country, but they also operate trademark agency business. Some insiders told reporters that this situation is not uncommon. It costs about 2000 yuan to register a trademark, but it may appreciate to tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands, millions of yuan when it is changed hands. The huge profit margin attracts more and more people to join the ranks of trademark investors. It is better to buy a trademark than to register it. But if you simply focus on trademark registration agency business, you won't make much money. The profitable link is trademark transfer. It is understood that the current process of trademark registration is basically: trademark design, trademark inquiry, materials needed to prepare a registered trademark, registration application (official fee 1000 yuan+agency fee), and waiting for successful registration (industry insiders say it will be one and a half years soon). According to relevant regulations, when registering 10 goods, the trademark registration fee is 1000 yuan; If it exceeds 10, a certain fee will be charged for each one. However, whether through professional trademark registrants or trademark agencies, there is no guarantee that trademark registration will be successful. If you design in a special way and integrate your own ideas into the trademark, the chances of successful registration are definitely great. A trademark agent told the reporter,' The reason why someone failed to register is because there is a risk of blind spots in trademark registration, and the examiner's personal views are different. These are all influencing factors. The unsuccessful registration mainly depends on the trademark itself, not who will register it. Mr. Li said. Mr. Li told reporters:' The blind spot is the data period that we can't find. The data we can find is limited. Now the blind area is getting longer and longer, eight or nine months. In other words, we can't find the data from September last year to the present. In the meantime, we can't know who is applying and which trademarks have been applied for. Only after nine months, can you find it in official website. And if someone is applying for a similar trademark during this period, but others are earlier than you, your application will be rejected. "Any newly applied trademark may have conflicting trademarks. Although this probability will not be high, the probability of applying for a trademark for buzzwords is high. Some organizations also claimed that the registration was successful. The staff of an agency told the reporter:' Trademark registration is risky and there is no guarantee that you will get a certificate. However, only when there is a high probability will we recommend registering customers. In this case, if the registration is unsuccessful, the fee will not be refunded. However, if the customer wants to reapply, we only charge the closing fee (that is, the unified registration fee of the Trademark Office) and do not charge the agency fee. "So, is it cost-effective to design a registered trademark yourself, or is it cost-effective to buy it directly? Because there are many uncontrollable factors in self-registered trademarks, and according to the regulations, the risk of unsuccessful trademark application is borne by the applicant, and it takes a long time, so many people in the industry suggest that if you register a trademark, it is better to buy it directly. Teacher Li believes that from the perspective of material benefits, it is definitely cost-effective to design and apply by yourself, but it may not be registered. If you buy the trademark directly, it will save time. Generally speaking, it only costs several times or even dozens of times more, but if you buy it, you can use it directly after completing the transfer procedures. Mr. Feng's point of view varies from person to person: it depends. Looking for a trademark to buy, the seller quoted 10000 yuan, he quoted 20000 yuan, plus transfer fees. So it is easy to find someone to buy it, and then pay some fees to the Trademark Office for help, which will save a lot of trouble. "Trademark investors sit on the floor, wild speculations. It will take at least one year to register a new trademark before you know whether it is registered successfully. Even if the registration is successful, it will take time for the new trademark to cultivate the market. It is not difficult and troublesome for enterprises to create a well-known trademark. Therefore, many people choose to buy some ready-made trademarks from trademark investors, saving time, and they can choose from a large number of trademarks, and the chances of outperforming the market are much greater. " A trademark investment practitioner told reporters that more and more enterprises choose to buy trademarks, and the huge market demand also makes trademark investors wave after wave. In the eyes of trademark investors, trademarks are their products. However, there is no uniform standard on how to price this product. The whole market is in complete chaos. Mr. Li told reporters that it is basically' the price set by the trademark owner himself', and the agent is just like a real estate agent,' the customer will put the quotation and help launch it'. The reporter saw from a trademark agency (Anqing Oriental Zhihui Brand Management Co., Ltd.) that they recently released nearly 100 kinds of trademark catalogues, which will indicate the registration number, trademark pattern and scope of use respectively. As for the standard of price setting, the trademark agent only said:' according to someone's needs'. Some insiders also told reporters:' The price of a trademark is not necessarily related to the number of letters or the size of graphics, but it may be related to the whole name. According to the reporter, according to the current market situation, the trademark of women's shoes generally sells for about 20 thousand yuan. For example, when a reporter sees a trademark with the word' step', people will know that it is a shoe trademark at a glance, and the price is about 25,000 yuan. Mr. Li told reporters that' trademarks generally appear in three forms: Chinese, English and graphics, or in combination, ranging from 5,000 yuan to 6,000 yuan, from 100,000 yuan to millions of yuan, while ordinary ones are basically less than 30,000 yuan, which is more common. In order to save costs, some customers may put forward a scheme of authorizing the trademark owner to use it, that is, they do not buy out the trademark themselves and do not need a trademark ownership certificate, but negotiate with the trademark owner to enjoy the trademark use right for a certain period of time and sign a license contract for the record. However, this seemingly feasible method does not have much maneuverability under the current situation that the trademark market is not standardized. According to the reporter's understanding, if a clothing trademark with a price of 18000 yuan is signed, according to the current market quotation, the trademark owner needs to pay a usage fee of 4000 yuan a year and 8000 yuan for two years. At this price, it is better to buy it directly. Insiders told reporters that even if the trademark owner permits the use, such an operation still has certain risks, but once the customer transfers the trademark within the permitted use period, it will be more troublesome. Because the customer has the right to transfer the trademark during the license period, unless otherwise agreed by both parties, it can be transferred regardless of whether the licensee agrees or not. Because trademarks need to be notarized by a notary office before trading, some trademark investors laugh that they are not notarized, but on the road of notarization. It is understood that the notary fee is generally borne by the seller, and some institutions have pushed this fee to the trademark purchaser. Where does the creativity of trademark investors with high profits come from to register trademarks? Xiaolong told reporters that it is common that some enterprises are already producing and using products, but they have not registered yet, and then trademark investors register,' this is also called cybersquatting'. How to find these unregistered trademarks with products? Xiaolong said to' pay attention to observation'. After taking a fancy to it, you can check it on China Trademark Online and find that the other party is registered without registration. However, this seemingly simple operation method' cannot be learned in a few days'. Xiaolong said that trademark investors must have a full understanding of the registered trademark industry and always pay attention to industry trends and some fashionable information. It is understood that policy orientation, social hotspots, audience popularity, etc. , has become a hot spot of trademark registration. Last July, "Gangnam style" was released in South Korea, which immediately swept the world and attracted the attention of many enterprises. Some Chinese trademark investors have also begun to pay attention to and compete for the' Jiangnan style' trademark. It is reported that' Style' and' Jiangnan Style', two trademarks with great market prospects in the eyes of investors, were registered by a trademark designer and trademark investor named Xie in China before most people could react. They are waiting for the price by taking advantage of the popularity of' Jiangnan Style' songs. Teacher Xie said that' style' in English and French means style, style and style, which is very suitable for clothing brands. It is catchy to read and easy to remember. If carefully built and promoted, it is likely to become an international brand. However, some insiders said that few people paid attention to this trademark before because' style' means style and type, which is not significant. Therefore, if it is used in goods, it is generally necessary to give up exclusive rights. Can be used in clothing, but to give up the exclusive right, that is to say, it can also be used in other industries, not for personal use. Generally speaking, the categories of trademark registration are limited. For example, the trademark is limited to wedding dresses and cannot be used in clothing. At the time of application, 10 goods are generally submitted, and only one kind of goods is approved. "More and more trademark investors are eyeing and registering some valuable trademarks, seeking to transfer them at a higher price in the future. It is understood that some trademark investors will contact the registered enterprises directly after registering their trademarks, and as long as the negotiations between the two parties are smooth, they will be able to make profits. If the other party is unwilling to spend money to buy it, the trademark investor can sue the enterprise for infringing its trademark and force it to compromise. And it is a lawsuit to the court, demanding high compensation. Some people in the legal profession said that although some trademarks were not used in the production field after registration, they were hidden in the snow to wait for opportunities and get compensation, but this practice took advantage of the law and did not violate the law, but only suffered moral pressure. For some enterprises that have registered trademarks, trademark investors can also make profits by registering similar trademarks. Industry insiders admit that in the trademark world, many design inspirations come from imitation. Such as'&; Times; & era; & era; "Secret", imitating the clothing brand "Victoria's Secret". Imitation, can (audit) pass, the market needs. You don't like imitation, and I don't like imitation, but many customers do, so it's easier to cut into the market. What customers favor is undoubtedly imitation. Mr. Feng, a trademark investor, told the reporter that if you want to buy an imitation trademark, you have to pay at least 65,438+10,000 yuan, and 200,000 yuan is the normal price. 500,000 Paul (brand) is normal. If there are other requirements, the more requirements, the higher the price. However, not all trademark investors are profitable. Some trademark investors told reporters that there are more and more people who take money to invest in the target, but few really make big money. After all, many registered trademark designs are imaginative, and finding a counterpart enterprise is tantamount to finding a needle in a haystack. A trademark investor in Hangzhou admits that no trademark has been sold this year. An investor in Shanghai also encountered the same dilemma: this is fraud! For peers with good business, people with poor business can only' envy and hate'. What if the trademark can't be sold? Xiaolong said frankly:' There is no way. According to relevant regulations, a registered trademark that has not been used for three years will be cancelled. In other words, within three years, if the trademark of the trademark investor is not sold, the original investment registration fee is equal to Shui Piao. There is also a litigation situation, that is, once the enterprise's objection is successful or a collective complaint is caused, then the investment of trademark investors may be in vain. But in any case, due to the low cost of registered trademarks, the loss is limited. Many trademark investors still hope to make big orders one day,' if you don't make orders for three years, you will eat for three years'. We should not blindly exaggerate the effect of trademark investment. In recent years, many enterprises in the Pearl River Delta are seeking transformation. In the process of building brands, trademark registration has become an indispensable part. An embarrassing fact is that just when these enterprises thought of doing this, they found that the relevant trademarks had already been registered. Even enterprises that have registered trademarks are sometimes used to register the same trademarks in other unregistered categories and then transfer them to related enterprises. In this way, enterprises in different industries use the same trademark, which is easy to mislead consumers and damage the brand image of the original enterprises. Some companies said that if it is really necessary to register a trademark, they will choose to negotiate with the trademark owner. If the registered trademark is too expensive or can be replaced, they will choose to redesign and apply for a new trademark, but it will take more thought, time and financial resources to cultivate it. How effective can buying a trademark be? Trademark investor Mr. Feng told reporters that the direct income depends on the use and promotion of buyers. This is a matter of the operator's ability, not the trademark. A trademark is equivalent to the name of a product. Without a name, it is difficult to promote. If some OEM enterprises turn to domestic sales, is the product called processing on behalf of others? Moreover, enterprises must have a name when delivering goods to the domestic wholesale market, and the price is at least higher than that without a trademark. "Another consideration for registering a trademark is:' Don't register a trademark, just find a name. If it becomes popular in the future and others rob your trademark, you won't have the right to use it unless you pay a large price. So for better or worse, at least there is a name. A trademark investor sells two single-product trademarks to customers for online sales, one for women and one for men. At present, the sales of two single products are above 10 million yuan. He told reporters: "It is definitely worthwhile to buy a trademark." However, some insiders pointed out that the effect of investors' targets should not be blindly exaggerated. He said that there are many people engaged in trademark hype now, but if you really need a trademark, it is difficult to apply for a suitable trademark. Intellectual property rights should not be used by some people as a tool to speculate their own interests. I hope that people who really need a trademark in the future can apply for a suitable trademark. For the collective trademarks that are popular in the Pearl River Delta recently, some trademark investors look at it this way:' The collective is always a collective, so it is better to own it. After the promotion, the business will be prosperous, the trademark will increase in value, and there will be no dispute. You can use it at will. Trademark investment competition is becoming increasingly fierce, and profits stimulate the enthusiasm of trademark practitioners. In order to further seize and win the market, some trademark investment companies have strengthened their determination to study the market. A trademark investment company put forward the slogan of "let customers win at the starting line" and implemented the market segmentation strategy. The relevant person in charge told the reporter that its trademarks are all designed according to market segments. For example, the trademark of women's wear is divided into intellectual category, elegant category, humorous category and professional category, and then marketing is implemented. Some are designed directly according to the orientation of the enterprise. A good bid will make your starting point higher. This trademark is unique in design and positioning, and it is not cheap to sell. I have sold hundreds of thousands (trademarks) because creativity and time cost are priceless. The reporter learned that even if customers can get a discount after they like it, the price of such creative trademarks is still 1 to 2 times higher than that of ordinary trademarks, and the price is basically more than 30,000 yuan. See if you like it. Good trademarks are easy to promote and remember, and can also fill the cultural connotation of enterprises. "The reporter also saw some homophonic creative trademarks. The names of four Chinese beauties, Shi, Diophantine and Wang Zhaojun, will also be the objects of trademark production. Who is beautiful if it is beautiful? The person in charge said.