Category Archives: Trademark

Different Judicial Opinions from Cases on Name Trademarks and Domain Name Conflicts in China

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By Albert Chen

In the first half of this year, our website posted an essay discussing the domain name dispute heard in the Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court (“Shanghai Court”) concerning the renowned comedian Zhou Libo. Recently, the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court (“Beijing Court”) decided a very similar case. Yet there were very different standards used to decide the different cases in Beijing and Shanghai. The most critical point is the determination of whether, after receiving the invitation to buy the domain name, the rights holder had bad faith during registration and use of the domain name.

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How to Settle Trademark and Trade Name Conflict in China

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By Albert Chen

For the prior approval on the company name by the administration of industry and commerce as well as the preliminary examination by the trademark authority in China, no material checks on any conflict against first rights would be conducted. And that has resulted in the numerous conflicts between the trade name and trademark. In today’s post, you could see our opinions on the settlement of the conflict.

I. The administrative way

It is feasible to settle the trademark and trade name conflict through administrative way in China. By Opinions on Several Issues concerning the Settlement on the Conflict between Trademark and Trade Name (the “Opinions”) issued by the SAIC (the State Administration of Industry and Commerce), the conflict occurred within a province shall be settled as in charge of the provincial administration of industry and commerce, and those involves different provinces, shall be settled by SAIC.

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Supreme Court Loosened Procedural Standards of Evidences Collected Outside China

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By Luo Yanjie

The so-called overseas evidences refer to those evidences developed outside China. In IPR cases, for most right holders are admitted in foreign countries, we have seen a high chance of overseas evidences’ showing up. By Article 11 of Rules on Civil Evidences (the “Rules”):

“If the evidence submitted by the party is developed outside P. R. China, they shall be notarized by the authority where it is collected, and be witnessed by Chinese Embassy or Consulate there; or to be verified through the procedures agreed in the convention between the country and China”.

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A Recorded High Objection to Mao Tai’s Trademark Application

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By Albert Chen

According to the report, the renowned white liquor distillery Mao Tai’s application of the “Guo Jiu Mao Tai” trademark is facing a recorded huge amount of objections. Since the announcement of its preliminary examination on 20th July, it has seen totaled 95 objections to the applied 4 marks within the 3-months publication. And the objectors have been more than 40 units or individuals. For the case, we once posted an essay on its analysis: “Will Alcohol Trademarks Implying Them the State Liquor Be Registered in China?” For more details of the analysis, please check today’s post.

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Key Points to Foreign Company’s IPR Litigation Preparation in China

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By Luo Yanjie

With the development of economy, China pays more and more attention to the protection of intellectual property. But whether the patent, trademark or copyright, a lot of high value intellectual property rights belong to foreign companies. Facing the still serious infringing situation, the civil lawsuit is still the most common and reliable means to strike infringement. As for foreign investors, what deserves the attention when preparing lawsuit materials? Today we would like to share the topic with readers as follows:

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Could Apple Use Objection to Jurisdiction to Prolong the Litigation Period?

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By Albert Chen

The most watched copyright battle between Chinese Writer Alliance (the “Alliance”) and Apple was heard in Beijing No.2 Intermediate People’s Court on the 11th of this month. You may have read our previous essay on the private hearing of the case, and in fact, Apple has also filed an objection to the jurisdiction in the case. Nonetheless, the application was refused by the intermediate court and upheld by the high court after appeal. The lawsuit has been delayed by procedure for nearly half a year, as favored by Apple. Today, we are going to introduce the regulation on the objection to civil jurisdiction in China.

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Has Apple Lost Opportunity of In-Camera Hearing on Its Case?

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By Albert Chen

The most watched dispute between Baidu (NASDAQ: BIDU) and Chinese Writers Alliance (the “Alliance”) is heard on 11th of October in Beijing No.2 Intermediate People’s Court. That lawsuit is filed following the battle against Baidu by the Alliance. Before the hearing on 11th, Apple applied to the court for the hearing in camera with the claim that the case is with trade secret related. After the consideration by the court, such an application was refused by the judge, yet it still decided the procedure may switch into be in private when one the interrogation involves the business secret. In today’s post, you may see our analysis on the “lawsuit in camera” in China.

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Is It Infringing to Show Others’ Trademarks on Exhibitions?

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By Luo Yanjie

Previously, our website introduced issues of trademark and patent in China exhibition: Legal Issues concerning Trademark during the Exhibition in China, Patent Issues for Attention on the Exhibition in China. Recently, a customer told our attorneys that they found a company using their registered trademarks for the promotion on similar goods in an exhibition. The company learned a little Chinese law and they know only Chinese patent law provides that “offer to sell” is infringement. So they ask our advice about that if using other’s registered trademarks constitute trademark infringement?

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How to Decide Infringement When Conflict between Trademark and Trade Name in China?

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By Luo Yanjie

As two different concepts in law, trademark plays the role as to distinguish the origin of the product or services, and the trade name is the literal expression to indicate different companies. But in the daily operation, we may see the confusion between these two concepts, and the trade name may also be used as kind of mark in business. Naturally, we see many companies choose to register their name as the trademark. Despite the similar function of them, the trademark and trade name are verified by different administrations (the mark is subject to the administration of trademark office, and the trade name is ruled by local administration of industry and commerce), but that also triggers the conflict between two objects. In today’s post, we would like to analyze the conflict occurred when trade name registered prior to the trademark by different subjects.

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Calculation to the Illegal Operation Income in Trademark Infringement

By Luo Yanjie

The trademark infringement in China, honestly though reluctant to admit, is very serious. That made the administration and the judicial organ pay more attention to the infringement investigation, and on the other hand, foreign invested companies could also be dragged into the conflict concerning the trademark, like Apple encountered enforcement by local administration for iPad trademark. In such circumstance, the calculation to the illegal income amount shall be important to the infringer, which shall influence their legal liability in direct way.

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Who Shall Pay for E-commerce’s Wrong Pricing?

By Luo Yanjie

With the rising of E-commerce in the retail industry, the protection on the consumers’ interests thereby emerges has been ever attended to. This article will discuss the problem of “wrong price”. Let’s take a look at the following example:

In August of last year, we saw a panic shopping (note: the link is in Chinese) on the books labeled RMB 50 which shall be RMB 1800 in origin in the book promotion on Dangdang.com (NYSE: Dang), Soon after, however, dangdang.com refused to deliver the books arguing the “wrong price” and thereafter cancelled orders. That triggered the right protection by thousands of consumers, and lawsuits filed in succession. Yet the court rejected part of the claims, and held that the contract has ever been concluded on the order cancellation, and therefore the website shall not be responsible for it. Now we would like to share the opinions with readers as follows:

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Could Selling Parallel Imported iPhone 5 be Trademark Infringement in China?

By Luo Yanjie

In recent, Apply unveiled its new device iPhone 5, and that exited Apple fans around the world. Yet, as sad to Apples fans in mainland China, the region is not among the first launching zones.

Due to the arrangement, the retailer from the grey market is eagerly for their new fortune with the new device launch, and some have even made the preorder for the new iPhone by smuggling the Hongkong sold one to mainland China. Then, in addition to the strike back on taxation, could Apple prohibit such selling through the claim of trademark infringement, while considering all the imported ones are the true Apple phones? Here’re our opinions:

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How to Legally Use Mickey Mouse Brand and FIgure in China?

By You Yunting

About one month before, the IPR Committee of Shanghai Bar Association invited the police officer from the Economic Investigating Squadron of Shanghai Police Department to deliver a speech on the criminal protection over IPR issues. And in the communication after the seminar, the police officer raised a question to the acceded lawyers, “The Shanghai Disney Land will be constructed several years later, and it’s foreseeable that there could be stores selling Mickey Mouse or other figures articles with no license thereby granted around the park. Yet, by then, the copyright protection term on Mickey could be expired, and so what measures could be taken to strike the unlicensed using or selling?”

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What is the Best Solution to Trademark Protection in China

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By Luo Yanjie

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