Tag Archives: trademark agency

How Large Is the Scope of Protection for Well-Known Trademarks in China? (II)

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In yesterday’s post, we introduced trans-class protection for well-known trademarks and the factors that might lead to this status being granted. Today, we would like to conclude by explaining situations in which well-known trademarks will not be granted trans-class protection.

III. Situations where trans-class protection will not be granted to well-known trademarks

As discussed above, well-known trademarks only enjoy trans-class protection when meeting the following conditions. Now, we will introduce some common situations where trans-class protection cannot be achieved:

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How to Legally and Properly License Trademarks in China ?

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The trademark license, as one of the means of using trademarks, has, in practice, encountered many unexpected disputes due to illegal and improper use. How then should one legally and properly license trademarks? And, what may benefits will the rights holder gain after going through the administrative procedures? This essay summarizes the author’s opinions on these issues.

I. How to make the trademark license record

(By Albert Chen) According to the Measures for Recording Trademark Licensing Contracts (“Measures”), the rights holder, either the owner of the trademark or the licensee, or the trademark agency representing these parties shall apply for recordation of the trademark license. If the licensors are foreigners or foreign companies, however, the record must be handled by trademark agencies. In the application, the applicant shall submit the licensing contract recordation application, a duplicate of the licensing contract, and a copy of the trademark certificate. If the documents are in foreign languages, translation shall also be provided.

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What Tencent’s Trademark Strategy Tells Us?

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By You Yunting

Today, we would like to introduce how Chinese enterprises protect their brands. Months ago, the news reporting Tencent (SEHK: 700)’s QQ trademark registration in all classes, including condom, is heatedly spread among Chinese netizens. From the report, we saw the local IT giant registered more than 1, 000 trademarks in the classes to protect its well-known mark “QQ” avoiding the free-riding by others, among which the class of food, matchmaking and condom is listed. Unlike the author who criticized Tencent a muddled thinking, we prefer the applications as the company’s thoughtful and overall strategy on trademark protection. Now, here’re our conclusion on Tencent’s experience and the analysis:

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Could There Be Any Improvement on Facebook’s Trademark Application Strategy in China?

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Why the Acuvue of Johnson & Johnson Encounters Trademark Dilusion?

The State Food and Drug Administration of China (SFDA) recently released the news on its website that the colorful plain contact lens will be put into administrative supervision over medical equipment (the “News”). Though the equipment is referred as the “colorful plain contact lens”, while it’s reported by media in the name of “Acuvue/Acuvue” (the “Acuvue”, means beautiful sight in Chinese). Afterwards, Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), the manufacturer of “Acuvue”, stated that the words are the exclusive trademark of it, and only the contact lens with cosmetic effect could be called as “Acuvue”.

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The Interpretation on the Ceased Use for Three Consecutive Years in China Trademark Law

It’s regulated in China Trademark Law that when the registered trademark is ceased for use for three consecutive years, the trademark office shall order him to rectify the situation within a specified period or even cancel the registered trademark. And the understanding on the ceased use is the most consulted question to us. In fact, such article was once referred in the administrative adjudication made by the Supreme People’s Court of China, and that may help us in understanding the article.

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The Extension of the iPad Trademark Battle: Proview Charged iPad Distributor GOME in China

According to Guangzhou Daily, the widely concerned iPad trademark conflict is oiled by the battle between Proview and GOME (HKEx: 00493), the distributor of iPad. And the new dispute has been brought to the Shenzhen Futian People’s Court and heard on 30th, December, 2011.

Shenzhen Proview claims itself the legal trademark owner of iPad, and as investigated, GOME sold the tablet with iPad trademark in its stores with no license from GOME, therefore, the misconduct of GOME shall be the trademark infringement. Thereby, Proview demands GOME stop selling the tablet, destroy all the marks or package related to the infringement, cancel any propaganda concerning iPad and take all the expenses on the investigation, evidence collection and other reasonable costs.

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Matters for Attention in the Trademark Opposition

Recently, the Qiaodan Company (Qiaodan is the pronunciation of Michael Jordan’s name), a Chinese domestic sporting goods manufacturer, confronted trademark troubles on IPO in China, because Nike has opposed to 8 trademarks of Qiaodan, claiming that it might lead to the confusion with Nike’s “Air Jordan”. Nevertheless, such opposition was refused by China Trademark Office, and Nike filed no administration lawsuit afterwards.

The opposition filed by Nike to Qiaodan is based on the provision of the China trademark law:

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Coca Cola Gets the Preliminary Win in the Case of “Qoo” against “Ku Wawa” in China

It was reported by  the Beijing News and Legal Evening Paper that the Beijing First Intermediate People’s Court (“Court”) has sentenced the case Coca Cola charging the infringement of the trademark “Ku Wawa” registered in the against Coca Cola’s copyright of designed trademark “Qoo”, judging that the Trademark Review and Adjudication shall rescind its approval for trademark registration of “Ku Wawa” and make a new decision.

The Court held that the trademark “Ku Wawa” bore no material similarity with  the trademark “Qoo”, which however was registered by Coca Cola in 2001, and for this reason “Ku Wawa” shall not infringe the copyright of “Qoo”. On the other hand, although the registered products of beer of “Ku Wawa” is different from the beverage of “Qoo”, they actually relate in consumers and marketing approaches. Accordingly, the Court decided the trademark “Ku Wawa” constitutes a similar trademark used in the similar products, which could be trademark infringement, and demanded the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board cancel “Ku Wawa” and make a new decision.

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Could the Unregistered Trademark be Legally Protected in China？

We  have been consulted for many similar cases this year, and most involving the operational difficulties or brand dilemmas that  foreign companies face due to trademark squatting. These unregistered trademarks could also be legally protected in certain situations, though normally the trademarks shall be first administratively approved for legal registration. Today, Bridge IP Law Commentary will introduce to you the matters related to unregistered trademarks.

I. The reputed unregistered trademark

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Matters for Attention in Trademark Refusal Review in China

It is reported that the British Lotus who will adopt “路特斯”, the transliteration of Lotus in Chinese, as its local brand in China due to a Chinese domestic company first registered the trademark of “Youth Lotus”. It’s also mentioned in the report that British lotus lost the trademark though it should have the chance to get it through the trademark refusal review. Today, Bridge IP Law Commentary will introduce you the system of review on the trademark refusal in China.

As regulated in the Article 32 of China trademark law:

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According to China Court’s First Instance Judgement, Apple Loses the iPad Trademark

According to the latest news, Shenzhen Media People’s Court judged on the iPad trademark conflict between Apple Inc (the “Apple”) and Proview Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. (the “Proview”), and Apple’s claim of Proview’s infringement against its trademark was rejected. That means the ownership of iPad trademark in China still belongs to Proview.

For this case, Bridge IP Law Commentary has expressed our opinions and analysis in the No “iPad” Chinese trademark right for Apple after payment in the transaction. And we anticipate that Apple may appeal to the higher court, while the case may end up in the consequence that Apple shall lose iPad trademark in mainland China shall the higher court maintained the judgment.

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The Actual Term of Trademark Registration in China

The brief introduction on the registration process of trademark in China

Bridge IP Law Commentary is frequently asked to introduce the process of the trademark application in China and the time it may take. Actually, the trademark registration is a harsh job here 5 years ago, for the administrative examination and approval could take as long as 3 years due to the imbalance between the rocketing applicaton amount and the low efficiencty of the trademark office in China. Luckily, it has been greatly improved, and 10 months is enough for going through the process. Today, Bridge IP Law Commentary will introduce you the standard process of the China trademark registration:

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Attention matters on Registration of Game Trademark in China

With the development of Internet, the video game once again gains the popularity. For instance, the well known “Angry Bird” has enjoyed a global download volume of more than 500 million times, and the name of it has been widely known as a brand. Therefore, more and more game companies choose to register the game name as trademarks in order to protect their brands. And the followings are the tips from Bridge IP Law Commentary in trademark registration:

I. What kind of game names can be registered as trademarks? 

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Introduction of China’s Legal System of Trademark Renewal

 Highlight: The first registered trademarks after the promulgation of the trademark law in 1982 will be in the renewal period soon, and most of such trademarks now are owned by foreign invested companies. In this essay, Bridge IP Law Commentary will give our advice and analysis on the trademark renewal.

The system of trademark application was first carried out in China in 1982 with the promulgation of the Trademark Law, by which the period of validity of a trademark registered in China is ten years from the day of approval and can be renewed, otherwise it will be cancelled. Therefore, most first registered trademarks are coming into the renewal period in 2012 or 2013, and among which the trademarks registered by foreign invested companies occupy a higher proportion due to the weak awareness of the trademark of Chinese enterprises then. For this reason, we would like to remind foreign clients to apply for trademark renewal timely during the renewal period and the grace period. Today, our website will introduce and analyze China’s legal system of trademark renewal.

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