The enterprise name is an essential factor for market operators and an important symbol to distinguish different market entities. At the beginning of the operation, determining a good business name for the project is the first issue that many business operators have to consider. As far as cosmetics companies are concerned, it is even more so that the proper name of the company will not only give additional points to the business promotion, but also reduce the business risk to a large extent. The choice of enterprise name is not only a business issue, but also a legal issue, can not be arbitrary. Cosmetics business name is the core component of the enterprise name, but also one of the core components of the enterprise brand, cosmetics operators should pay more attention to.

What is a business name? Business name is the core component of business name, but business name is not equal to business name. The name of an enterprise is usually composed of administrative divisions, brand name, industry or business characteristics, and organizational form, among which the main distinguishing mark is "brand name", which is usually called "trade name". For example, Millet Technology Co., LTD., in which "science and technology" is its industry, "limited liability company" is its organizational form, and the most identifiable "millet" is a business name. The company name directly reflects the information of the manufacturer of the product, and conveys the reputation of the manufacturer to the counterparty or consumers, which is of great commercial significance. In business practice, the trade names of some enterprises are consistent with their trademarks, such as Haier, Hisense, Xiaomi, Huawei, etc. Some business names and trademarks are inconsistent, such as Procter & Gamble, Unilever, AmorePacific, etc.

How should cosmetics companies determine their own business? Under normal circumstances, if the enterprise is a single brand operation, the enterprise will usually directly adopt the brand as the trade name. In this way, it is convenient for enterprise brand promotion and intellectual property management in the later period. If the enterprise operates with multiple brands, the enterprise usually adopts a trade name independent of the enterprise brand, so that on the one hand, the image of the trade name and the brand can be kept independent, and on the other hand, the risk transmission between the multi-brands can be isolated. In the multi-brand management strategy, directly using one of the brands as a firm, on the one hand, will lead to the confusion of brand image, on the other hand, it will also lead to the superposition of brand management risks to a certain extent. Therefore, in the multi-brand management strategy, priority should be given to the use of independent business strategy. A good business, on the one hand, to consider industry relevance, promotion convenience, personal preferences and other business factors, on the other hand, but also consider legal factors. First, the trade name is not identical or similar to the registered trademark of another person. If a consumer goods operator uses an enterprise name that is identical or similar to the registered trademark of another person, on the one hand, the business promotion act is to make wedding clothes for others, and on the other hand, it will be suspected of trademark infringement or unfair competition. Once the infringement or unfair competition is constituted, the enterprise will suffer unbearable heavy losses. Because the company name is a cosmetic logo must mark the content, once it is identified as infringement or unfair competition, it is necessary to immediately stop the infringement or unfair competition behavior; The immediate cessation of infringement or unfair competition means that the enterprise has to change its name, remove the products from the market, scrap the inventory of finished products and packaging materials, etc. The impact is a systemic risk for the enterprise operation, which will not only lead to great direct losses, but also lead to the sales shock of the enterprise, and even cause the collapse of the enterprise. At the same time, because the products sold by the enterprise are marked with companies that constitute infringement or unfair competition, the enterprise's past product sales data will push up the amount of civil compensation, which will cause great compensation losses. Secondly, trade names are distinctive and can be registered as trademarks. The right of trade name is a category of industrial property defined by the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property. The trade name obtained through legal registration is protected by law. The general principles of Civil law of China have specific provisions on the protection of the right of enterprise name, that is, the legal person, the individual business and the individual partnership enjoy the right of name. However, the General Principles of the Civil Law have no clear provisions on the acquisition and protection of the right of trade name. In the absence of trade name protection system, it is possible for enterprise trade name to be registered as a trademark only if it has significance, and then obtain corresponding strong protection through the trademark system.

How can cosmetics companies protect their businesses? As mentioned above, China's existing intellectual property protection system lacks an independent protection system for business names. In the case of inconsistency between the business name and the trademark, the business name mainly has two risks: one is to be used as a trade name by other enterprises in different administrative regions or different business industries; the other is to be used as a trademark by other enterprises on goods. Both will lead to brand confusion and consumer confusion. According to the Company Law and the Regulations on the Administration of Enterprise Registration and other relevant provisions, after the successful registration of the business name of the operator, its business name has exclusivity and specificity in the same business scope within the same administrative division. Therefore, the business operator will be registered as the use of business name, can obtain specific protection in a specific region and a specific industry, such as other business operators in a specific administrative region, a specific scope of business may not register the same business name, but can not be nationwide or industry-wide prohibit others from using the business. Therefore, there are many different administrative areas of the same business entity, to the operators brought great confusion. Compared with the regional special use of trade names, the exclusive right of trademark is clearly stipulated in China's Trademark Law, and its exclusive right is protected throughout the country, with a wider and more comprehensive scope of protection. Therefore, under the existing system, when the trade name is inconsistent with the trademark, it is an effective and strong protection measure to register the business name as the trademark.

How to resolve trade name and trademark conflicts? The trademark is another core component of the cosmetics enterprise brand, which specifically refers to the logo that distinguishes the sources of different goods or services, generally composed of words, letters, numbers, graphics, sounds and other elements. Trade name and trademark are very different, and their functions are different, but they are both important components of cosmetics brands. Trade name is mainly composed of words, the function is to show the product producer information; The trademark is composed of words, letters, numbers, graphics, sounds and other elements, and its function is mainly to distinguish different products or services. In the practice of enterprise management, there are two kinds of conflicts between trade name and trademark: the case of the later established trade name infringing on the earlier trademark right and the case of the later applied trade name infringing on the earlier established trade name. First of all, the infringement of the prior registered trademark rights by the later registered enterprise name belongs to the legal problems in the category of unfair competition, which specifically belongs to the unfair competition behavior of the operator in the process of using the enterprise name to confuse the goods of others or have a specific connection with others, and belongs to the unfair competition behavior prohibited by Article 6 of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law. Enterprises can protect their legitimate rights and interests through litigation, market supervision and management departments. Secondly, the application for registration as a trademark of words with the same or similar name registered and used by others and with certain popularity is likely to lead to confusion among the relevant Chinese public, resulting in possible damage to the interests of the owner of the prior name, which is damage to the prior rights of others and belongs to the legal issue in the category of trademarks. Enterprises can protect the legitimate rights and interests of the prior enterprise name through trademark objection and trademark invalidation procedures.