Beauty instrument is a new category, the current national laws, regulations and standards have not specifically for the definition of beauty instrument, classification made clear provisions. The author consulted the relevant information and summarized, the general definition of beauty instrument on the market at present is: beauty instrument is a kind of instrument that uses physical, electronic technology, optics and other methods to act on the human body and face to achieve beauty effects. From the point of view of the use of beauty equipment, it is generally divided into skin care beauty equipment and hair care beauty equipment. Recently, the First Financial Business Data Center (CBNData) and Tmall International launched the "2020 online home beauty instrument consumption Insight Report", the report shows: "In the context of consumption upgrading, the public's demand for beauty and skin care continues to advance, and home beauty instrument has become a new demand; In addition to facial beauty instruments, the consumption scale of beauty instruments used by consumers in eyes, mouth, hair, body and other parts is also growing rapidly; Against Europe, the United States, Japan and other countries, the penetration rate of national home beauty equipment is large, the consumption potential is broad, and the future development prospects are more optimistic." According to the "2018-2023 China Beauty instrument industry market Status and Investment Analysis Report" released by Xinsi Industry Research Center, "in 2017, China's beauty instrument product market retail sales reached 4.52 billion yuan, an increase of 886%, and the beauty instrument market showed explosive growth." In view of the blue ocean development prospects of beauty instrument, in addition to the traditional home appliance companies such as Pentium, Panasonic have launched different functions of beauty instrument, at the same time some cosmetics companies such as Procter & Gamble, Clinique also began to get involved in this field, developed and skincare related beauty instrument, with its cosmetics sales. At the same time of the rapid development of the beauty instrument market, imitation or cottage beauty instrument frequently appears, which not only seriously damages the rights and interests of consumers, but also infringes the long-term accumulation of market awareness and reputation of the brand. Therefore, it is particularly important for brands to protect intellectual property rights when developing beauty products.

The LUNA facial cleanser patent was infringed, and the Shanghai court fully supported the plaintiff's claim for compensation of 3 million yuan. In 2013, Ferrol developed Luna facial cleanser, which has won the favor of consumers with its pioneering product design and has become a well-known product in the industry. Its unique appearance design has also become the object of counterfeiting and plagiarism. In September 2019, Firol filed a lawsuit with the Shanghai Intellectual Property Court, claiming that Zhuhai Golden Rice Company, Zhongshan Golden Rice Company and Shanghai Zhuokang Company infringed the design patent of Luna cleanser, and requested the three defendants to jointly compensate for economic losses and reasonable expenses of 3 million yuan. After hearing the case, the Shanghai Intellectual Property Court found that compared with the appearance design of the Luna facial cleanser, the overall shape structure, the arrangement and distribution of bristles and raised arcs, and the position Settings of buttons and charging ports were basically the same. Although there are some differences between the alleged infringing facial cleanser and Luna facial cleanser patents, they do not have a substantial impact on the overall visual effect, and the design of the alleged infringing facial cleanser falls within the scope of protection of Ferrol's design patent right, constituting a design patent infringement. At the same time, the court issued an investigation order to Tmall and Alibaba, and found that the total number of infringing products sold was 358,074, and the total sales amount was 35,262,990 yuan. Finally, the court ordered the three defendants to immediately stop infringing on the design patent of LUNA cleanser, and the defendants Zhuhai Golden Rice Company and Zhongshan Golden Rice Company compensated Feruo Company for economic losses and reasonable expenses of 3 million yuan, and the defendants Zhuokang Company assumed joint and several liability for compensation within the range of 50,000 yuan.

It can be seen that the appearance of beauty products is an important part of intellectual property protection. Beauty equipment belongs to the category of fashion products, product appearance is an important identification of goods, with original product design can not only attract consumer attention, but also bring consumers the impulse to consume, and then better achieve commercial value. For example, the Foreo Luna facial cleanser that is popular in the beauty industry and fashion circle, ReFa roller beauty instrument, and Panasonic face steamer have all obtained design patents because of their unique shapes. When developing innovative beauty instruments, enterprises should apply for design patents for the products. So what is product design? Product appearance design refers to the shape or pattern of the product or its combination, as well as the combination of color and shape, pattern to make a new design of beauty and suitable for industrial applications. If an enterprise's design is patented, it can obtain strong legal protection. After the patent right for a design has been granted, no entity or individual may, without the permission of the patentee, exploit the patent, that is, make, offer to sell, sell or import the product patented for its design for production or business purposes. If an enterprise design wants to enjoy the design patent right, it must meet two conditions: novelty and registration. Novelty means that the design does not belong to the existing design; Nor has any entity or individual filed an application with the patent administration department under The State Council for the same design before the date of filing, which is recorded in the patent application documents published or published after the date of filing. Registration means that according to the provisions of China's patent law, the design patent can be enjoyed after the application and approval of the design patent registration, rather than automatically enjoy the right after the design is completed. In the protection of product design patents, the easiest pit for enterprises to step on is to disclose the design before application, including but not limited to product display, product listing, media disclosure, wechat circle of friends disclosure, etc. Many design patents are due to the self-disclosure of the design before the application, resulting in the loss of novelty, which leads to the invalidation of the patent.

In addition to the protection of the appearance of beauty instruments, trademark protection is also particularly important. A trademark is a commercial sign used to distinguish the different sources of goods and services. It is composed of words, graphics, letters, numbers, three-dimensional signs, color combinations, sounds or the combination of the above elements. It is an important component and carrier of a brand and plays an important role in distinguishing the sources of goods or services. Trademarks belong to the core brand components of consumer goods, operators should apply for trademark registration before developing beauty products, and only through registration approval can trademark exclusive right protection be obtained. In which categories should beauty instruments apply for trademark registration? There are many categories of beauty equipment, and when registering a trademark, it should be determined which core category it belongs to in the international classification of trademarks according to its specific functions and uses. While applying for registration of the core category, the important commodity categories associated with it should also be registered together. Specifically, there are the following categories of products according to the function and use of the beauty instrument: the eighth category of shaver, hair remover, hand tools for curling hair; Class 10 massage equipment, electric dental equipment; The 11th type of face steamer, hair dryer; Class 20 cosmetic mirrors; Class 21 Makeup remover and cosmetic appliance. Operators should choose registration applications in these core categories according to the functions and uses of beauty instruments. At the same time, because the beauty instrument is related to the cosmetics and beauty service business, from the perspective of long-term business development and trademark strategic protection, the category of cosmetics and beauty services is an important category, and the following categories of goods should be added to the above-mentioned core categories of goods: Category 3 cosmetics and Category 44 beauty services. In addition, from the perspective of sales channels, with the development of the Internet, enterprise sales channels basically cover both online and offline channels, so the categories of goods related to sales channels, sales models and marketing methods should be registered for protection. For example: Class 9 computer software, hardware; Class 16 photos and drawings; Category 35 advertising, marketing on behalf of others; Category 38 Telecommunications, online forums; Class 42 Computer software and hardware development; Category 45 online social networking services. Trademark protection is a dynamic process, trademark registration application is only the beginning, after the trademark approval and registration of the enterprise must carry out the follow-up management of the trademark. For example, in the use of trademarks to standardize the use of trademarks, not unauthorized change of trademarks, so as to avoid being revoked; The term of validity of a registered trademark shall be ten years, counted from the date of approval of the registration, and shall be renewed in time after the expiration of the trademark so as not to become invalid; After trademark registration, it is necessary to monitor the trademark registration of others, and timely raise objections to the same or similar trademark registration applications filed in the same or similar categories of goods, so as to avoid the third party registration of the same or similar trademarks, resulting in trademark confusion; When there are copycat products, fake goods and other infringement of trademark rights in the market, the first time to protect the brand image through legal means to protect the interests of operators.

Enterprise development and innovation is crucial, but the protection of intellectual property rights for innovation is even more important. In terms of intellectual property protection in the beauty instrument industry, design and trademark intellectual property protection is particularly important. When developing beauty products, operators must pay attention to the protection of product design and trademarks, maintain brand image and corporate interests, and better achieve business purposes.