Trademarks are commonly known as “brands”. There are many different expressions of trademarks in relevant international conventions and foreign trademark legislation.
For example, Article 15 of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights stipulates that any combination of signs or marks that can distinguish the goods or services of one enterprise from the goods or services of other enterprises should be able to constitute a trademark. The European Community Trademark Regulation stipulates that all marks that can be expressed in written form, especially words (including names), graphics, letters, numbers, and the appearance of goods and their packaging, as long as they can distinguish the goods or services of one enterprise from the goods or services of other enterprises, can constitute trademarks.
Article 2 of the United States Trademark Act stipulates that any trademark that can be used to identify the applicant’s goods from the goods of others shall not be refused registration. Article L.7111 of Volume VII of the French Intellectual Property Code, “Manufacture, Commercial and Service Marks and Other Distinctive Marks”, stipulates that a manufacture, commercial or service mark is a mark that is used to distinguish the goods or services of a natural person or legal person and can be depicted in writing.
The above definitions of trademarks are basically given from the two aspects of the main functions and constituent elements of trademarks. Article 8 of the current Trademark Law of my country also indirectly points out the definition of trademarks from the perspective of trademark constituent elements: “Any sign that can distinguish the goods of a natural person, legal person or other organization from the goods of others, including words, graphics, letters, numbers, three-dimensional signs, color combinations and sounds, etc., as well as combinations of the above elements, can be applied for registration as a trademark.”
Academics generally believe that trademarks are signs used by manufacturers or service providers on their goods or services, and are composed of words, graphics, letters, numbers, three-dimensional signs, color combinations and sounds, etc., and other elements to distinguish the source of goods or services.