Abstract: In the process of product innovation, the implementation of brand strategy of new products is faced with the dilemma of trademark being registered, losing market share, disclosing product cost information in advance and increasing trademark maintenance cost. In this regard, the latent trademark strategy is a new possible choice. This paper systematically reviews the latent trademark strategy in product innovation.Based on the case study of American multinational companies, it is found that under the current international intellectual property law system, multinational enterprises can hide their new registered trademarks in the public view for up to six months by taking advantage of the imbalance of international regional development;compared with the traditional trademark strategy, the latent trademark strategy can effectively prevent the trademark from being preempted and delay the disclosure of product information in the sense of time, and then protect the advantage of product first mover and maintain the goodwill of enterprises; unlike the traditional latent trademark registration countries, China′s trademark legal system, language barriers and the practical complexity of the trademark retrieval system make it possible to implement the latent trademark strategy in its trademark registration system. Latent trademark strategy has positive and negative effects on social welfare. It needs to weigh the advantages and disadvantages, and make necessary regulations through laws, regulations or technical means.

Key words: latent trademark, product innovation, trademark registration, first mover advantage, enterprise