Harvesting Successfully Applied for Review of Rejected Trademark “Tai Cha No.12” and Registred
 

Case Brief

Harvesting acts as an agent for a trading company in Guangzhou to file application for trademark “Tai Cha No. 12” () to Trademark Office in November 2012. In April 2014, Trademark Office rejected our trademark application on the designated service items, by claiming that “Tai Cha” (a kind of Tea), which contained in the applied trademark “Tai Cha No.12”, indicated directly and merely the service content and features if used on applied service items. We afterwards accepted the entrustment of the trading company and applied for review to Trademark Review and Adjudication Board. Finally, we acquired the approval of registration.
 

Harvesting’s Action

Regarding the rejection reason of Trademark Office, we believed that although “Tai Cha” suggested the service content and features directly, the applied trademark is an indivisible entirety, with unique style and meaning in its design, which grant distinctiveness. Additionally, it has rich cultural connotation. Through the long-term advertising and application, it has achieved relatively high recognition in public.

Based on the above analysis and reason, we applied for review to Trademark Review and Adjudication Board, and register the trademark successfully.
 

Harvesting’s Perspective

The similarity of trademark and legal review depend on the subjective judgment of adjudicators, which is not always correct, and the rejection of trademark application does not mean thorough failure of trademark registration.

In this case, Trademark Office rejected the trademark application of the trading company with the reason that “Tai Cha”, merely indicated the service content and features when using on the applied service items. It is called “rejection in absolute grounds” in IP industry, as the reason suggested that the trademark application violates Trademark Law. Under such situation, generally the success rate of review application is very low. However, with a dozen years of working experience in the field of trademark application, we know the rules of adjudicators clearly and are able to explore unique characteristics of the applied trademark, which greatly improve the success rate of trademark application and review.