Bad-faith registrations and fines
Although the latest version of the legislation has not yet been published, the Chinese authorities made it clear during a press conference two weeks ago that the new law introduces stricter standards and procedures for the registration and use of trademarks. Among other things, the measures are intended to combat large-scale trademark squatting, the “stockpiling” of other parties’ trademarks and other bad-faith registrations.
Tesla en Viagra
Foreign trademark owners in particular are increasingly affected by trademark squatting. Tesla, New Balance and Viagra, to name just a few examples, were forced to spend years pursuing legal proceedings to recover their misappropriated trademarks. However, the problem does not affect only world-famous brands. Owners of lesser-known trademarks are also confronted with it. These businesses will therefore be pleased to hear that the new law provides for substantial fines for this type of trademark squatter.
Shorter opposition period
Another important change concerns the opposition period—the period within which an objection may be filed against a new trademark application. This period will be shortened from three months to two months. For trademark owners, this means that they will need to monitor developments even more closely and act more quickly if they wish to oppose a new trademark application. We will, of course, take this shorter deadline into account in the trademark-monitoring services we provide for many of our clients in China.
As soon as the text of the latest version of the Chinese Trademark Law is made public, we will provide a further update. For questions or advice, please feel free to contact Chiever.
Bas Kist
Tesla Photo by Tesla Fans Schweiz on Unsplash
Banner Photo by Arthur Wang on Unsplash
