为何外国公司在中国注册其英文/拉丁文字商标时应同时注册对应的中文商标以及如何选择中文商标

Why Should an Overseas Company Register a Chinese Version for Its English/Latin Word Trademark and How

为何外国公司在中国注册其英文/拉丁文字商标时应同时注册对应的中文商标以及如何选择中文商标

If an overseas company is planning to do business in China, particularly like supplying products orservices in the Chinese market, trademark filing or registration at the CNIPA for the corresponding Chinese version of its English/Latin word trademark or such in other language （“Non-Chinese” hereafter） is necessary and recommended.

如果外国公司计划在中国开展业务，特别是在中国市场提供商品或服务，在中国国家知识产权局申请注册其英文/拉丁或其他语言文字（以下简称“非中文”）文字商标对应的中文商标是有必要的。

Up to now most overseas companies are quite aware of the importance of registering in advance their Non-Chinese word trademark in China to prevent squatting, however many of them were found having overlooked their brands in Chinese characters, which lead to challenges or problems later to these companies. Hereis the summary of the reasons for registering in Chinese characters for the said Non-Chinese word trademarks:

到目前为止，大多数外国公司都清楚在中国提前注册其非中文文字商标以防止被抢注，但许多公司忽略了对其商标的中文的注册保护，而此后给自己带来麻烦和挑战。以下是为非中文文字注册相应的中文商标的原因：

1.Trademarks in Chinese characters are certainly easier for Chinese consumers or relevant public to identify and remember, and thus help spread the marks to the Chinese consumers or public.

2.Filing and registration in advance for the corresponding Chinese version of its Non-Chinese word trademark will prevent those “smart heads” and “quick hands” to squat or imitate to profit from misleading or confusion.

3.Trademarks in Chinese characters can avoid negative/bad nicknames.

In the practice, if a Non-Chinese brand is widely welcomed by consumers in the Chinese market but difficult for the Chinese people to read, the public may give some “nicknames” according to their pronunciations or compositions in order to remember. However, such “nickname” may have some negative or some elements of ridicule and joking, which would lead to the damage of the brand.

1、中文商标当然更易于中国消费者识别和记忆，从而有助于将商标传播给中国消费者。

2、提前申请注册非中文文字商标的相应中文商标可以防止恶意抢注者抢先申请注册或模仿，从而从误导或混淆中获利。

3、中文商标可以避免不好的绰号。

在实践中，如果一个中国人难以阅读的非中文品牌在中国市场中广受消费者欢迎，大众为了更好地记忆品牌，会根据其发音或构成自发的取一些“昵称”。然而，这类“昵称”可能会有一些消极的含义或存在一些嘲讽、开玩笑的成分，结果会导致品牌形象受损。

Some previous cases show that Chinese nicknames may be even more popular than the original Non-Chinese brands. Therefore, some squatters may see and seek the opportunity to preemptively register trademarks (including the nicknames) in Chinese characters, which may bring unnecessary trouble to the use and promotion of the original Non-Chinese brands in the Chinese market, such as causing confusion to consumers about the source of the goods, or increasing the risk of using their Chinese nicknames to produce counterfeits. In the follow-up proceedings, the real brand owners have to spend a lot of money and time to protect or defend their rights, examples of such include Google v.s. 谷歌, “Mamma Mia!” v.s. “妈妈咪呀”, and “Jordan” v.s. “乔丹”, to name just a few.

之前的一些案例表明，中国消费者取的昵称可能比原创的非中文文字品牌名称更受欢迎。因此，一些抢注者会看到抢注中文商标的机会，这可能会给原创的非中文品牌在中国市场的使用和推广带来不必要的麻烦，比如造成消费者对商品来源的混淆，或增加抢注者使用中文昵称生产假冒产品的风险。在后续诉讼程序中，真正的品牌所有者必须投入大量金钱和时间来保护或捍卫自己的权利，仅举几例，如“Google”诉“谷歌”案、“Mamma Mia!”诉“妈妈咪呀”案、“Jordan” 诉“乔丹”案。

Coming next, is how shall a Non-Chinese trademark be translated into Chinese? Normally an overseas applicant has three options: translation, transliteration or a combination of both translation and transliteration. The ideal way is to make the translation/transliteration positive and attractive while maintaining a strong connection to the original Non-Chinese language, as the following examples show:

1.Transliteration: 拉菲(LAFITE),迪士尼(Disney),西门子(Siemens),福特(Ford),亚马逊(Amazon),奥迪(Audi),耐克(NIKE),阿迪达斯(Adidas),谷歌(Google).

2.Translation: 步行者(WALKMAN),空客(Airbus),脸书(Facebook),壳牌(Shell),通用(General Electric), 大众(Volkswagen),微软(Microsoft),软银(Softbank).

3.The combination of transliteration and translation: 可口可乐(Coca Cola), 宜家(IKEA),宝马(BMW),奔驰(Mercedes-Benz),保时捷(Porsche),露华浓(REVLON),爱马仕(Hermès),家乐福(Carrefour),领英(linkedIn),联合利华(Unilever),达美航空(Delta),百安居(B&Q),赛百味(Subway).

接下来的问题是如何将非中文文字商标翻译成相应且适当的中文。通常，外国申请人有三种选择：意译、音译或者意译和音译的结合。理想的方法是使意译/音译含义积极并且具有吸引力，同时保持与原来的非中文文字的紧密联系，如以下示例所示：

1、 音译：拉菲（LAFITE）, 迪士尼（Disney）, 西门子（Siemens）, 福特（Ford）, 亚马逊（Amazon）, 奥迪（Audi）, 耐克（NIKE）, 阿迪达斯（Adidas）, 谷歌（Google）。

2、 意译：步行者（WALKMAN）, 空客（Airbus）, 脸书（Facebook）, 壳牌（Shell）, 通用（General Electric）, 大众（Volkswagen）, 微软（Microsoft）, 软银（Softbank）。

3、 意译和音译的结合：可口可乐（Coca Cola）, 宜家（IKEA）, 宝马（BMW）, 奔驰（Mercedes-Benz）, 保时捷（Porsche）, 露华浓（REVLON）, 爱马仕（Hermès）, 家乐福（Carrefour）, 领英（linkedIn）, 联合利华（Unilever）, 达美航空（Delta）, 百安居（B&Q）, 赛百味（Subway）。

Before last, the same filing and registration is also recommended in Hong Kong and Macao in addition to the Chinese Mainland, and Taiwan as well, as Chinese are much more commonly used by the people there even if English or Portuguese are also the official languages in Hong Kong and Macao on the one hand, and the exchanges of people and business are much more frequent on the other.

最后，除中国大陆和台湾外，在香港和澳门我们同样建议申请注册中文商标，因为一方面，虽然英语或葡萄牙语也是香港和澳门的官方语言，但人们实际上更多使用中文，另一方面，这些区域之间的人员往来与企业之间的交流也要频繁得多。