Category Archives: Protection

Wanglaoji Trademark Lawsuit and China Trademark License Record System

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By You Yunting

As reported (note: the link is in Chinese), the eye-catching trademark battle on Wanglaoji, also known as Wong Lo Kat in Hong Kong, as been adjudicated by Beijing No.1 Intermediate People’s Court on the 13th July 2012, by which Hong Dao Group’s (the “Hong Dao”) appeal to revoke the arbitration decision by CIETAC was refused. This means the arbitration decision shall take effect from 9th May 2012, the two supplementary trademark license contracts signed by the disputed parties are judged invalid, and Hong Dao will no longer use the trademark of Wanglaoji. For the case, we have expressed our opinions in the past post “Will JDB Revoke Wang Lao Ji Trademark Arbitration Award through Litigation?”

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Qiaodan Sports Cancelled Trademarks Registerred in Jordan Children’s Name

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By Si Weijiang

According to a news report, Qiaodan Sports made an announcement in recent, that it has canceled the trademarks registered matching the Chinese translation of Jordan’s Children’s names. Also it’s mentioned in the statement that, Qiaodan Sports has found many trademarks with Qiaodan （乔丹）contained, therefore for the protection of its brand, so far the company has registered 129 trademarks for the defense strategy. However for the defense purposes, these trademarks have never been used and Qiaodao has no intension to use them in the future. In our opinions, the active cancellation by Qiaodan is a right step on the course for the name of foreign people shall also be protected in China.

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Legal Analysis on Program Format Protection

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By Luo Yanjie

China’s Got Talent broadcasted on Dragon TV has seen its 4th season this year, and during the past couple years, the show has been one of the most popular interactive reality TV shows in China. The main reason contributing to the show’s success is its high production level and the claimed license from British copyright owner which makes the program the true Talent like its British and American equivalents. However, in fact, Dragon TV’s statement is not legally accurate by China Copyright Law for the show is kind of transfer of the British program format. Today, the essay will tell you shall the program format be protected by law and what kind protection it is.

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Is It Worth for Apple to Pay $60M for iPad Trademark?

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According to the media report, the Guangdong People’s High Court announced on the 2nd of July that Apple has concluded a mediation agreement with Proview in the iPad battle, which will be finally settled with the trademark transferred to Apple on its payment of $ 60 million. After the news, the settlement amount of $ 60 million offered by Apple has soon been the focus of the public, and in this essay, we would like to discuss has Apple gained a bargain in the settlement?

For Apple, the payment may be less than its value for the following reasons:

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Apple Pays 60 million US Dollars for iPad Trademark in China

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By You Yunting

On the morning of the 2nd of July, the Guangdong People’s High Court announced both Apple and Proview prefer toend the case through mediation in the iPad battle, and both parties have confirmed the final settlement with $ 60 million paid by Apple for the trademark’s ownership in mainland China and thereby signed the agreement of mediation.

By the agreement, Apple shall remit $ 60 million yuan to the appointed account by the court, and meanwhile, on the 28th of June Apple has applied for the enforcement of the above agreement to the Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court, where the 1st instance of the trial is heard. After the application, the Shenzhen Court sent the State Administration of Commerce and Industry the judicial decision and the notice of enforcement assistance today, by which the iPad trademark shall registered under the name Apple.

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Data of Copyright Infringement Combat from 2006 to 2010 in China

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By the Economic Daily, during 5 years from 2006 to 2010, the administrative punishment on piracy judged by the copyright offices of each level totaled 49, 416, 1,653 transferred to the judicial organ, 128, 493 illegal operating units have been cancelled, 3, 507 dens have been investigated and 317 million pieces are captured. And in addition to the daily supervision, the special act on infringement combat by the administrative organs have been conducted for continuous 5 years, special act on illegal preinstalled pc software for continuous 3 years and promotion of genuine software using in companies for continuous 5 years.

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How to Apply for the Trademark Record in China Custom

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By Huang Mengren

We are recently consulted for the trademark record in China custom house, therefore we would repost the essay on the issue today.

Highlight: You could get to know the effective way of combating infringing product by trademark record in China custom in today’s post.

As reported by xinhuanet.com, the first instance of the knockoff brand product case with the biggest amount involved in recent was heard. The suspect of the case purchased the knockoff LV, Adidas, LACOSTE and other brand products for export, afterwards the knockoffs were detained for the suspicious infringement basing on the recorded trademark by the customhouse after the inspection, and finally the products were appraised fake with the market value of more than 230 million yuan.

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The Latest Progress of iPad Lawsuits

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The two lawsuits concerning the iPad trademarks have both gained the new progress in this month (2012.6)

For the trial between Apple and Proview, as introduced by the spokesman of the Guangdong People’s High Court’s Foreign Affair Office, the case will not be judged in recent for the companies are in the negotiation for the renegotiation with the presiding of the court. By the Civil Procedure Law

“In trying an appealed case against a judgment, the people s court shall make a final judgment within three months after the case was filed as one of second instance. Any extension of the term necessitated by special circumstances shall be subject to the approval of the president of the said court.”

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How to Apply for Evidence Preservation for IPR Trials in China

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By Luo Yanjie

In an earlier Microsoft’s case of right protection (Note: the link is in Chinese), the company applied for the evidence preservation to the court after they found the piracy using by others, demanding the perpetuation covering the pirated Microsoft software installed in the computers in the defendant’s business place. The application was accepted by the court, who thereafter sealed and checked the computers claimed and found each apparatus has been installed at least 5 types of software of Microsoft. Whereby, Microsoft gains the compensation of more than 1 million yuan in the following trials.

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Analysis on Advantages and Disadvantage of Trademark Full-class Registration in China

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By Albert Chen

We posted to discuss what classes shall DOTA like online game to register their trademarks several days ago. In a country like China where the infringement is not rare, it’s suggested to apply the trademark in relevant classes as many as possible, and today we would like to discuss the way to make the strategy on trademark and the advantages and disadvantages of the full-class registration of trademarks.

I. The full registration of trademarks is suggested for the current condition in China

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MOC: Data of IP Infringement Law Enforcement of this 1st Quarter in China

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By You Yunting

The Ministry of Commerce (MOC) reported on 12th the latest progress of the combat against the IPR infringement and knockoff production in 2012 in China. And today’s post is mainly about part of the data released on the conference.

By the preliminary statistics, during this January to April, the commerce law enforcement departments nationwide have investigated and punished those involved in 78,773 cases of intellectual property rights (IPR) infringement and counterfeits, with the money involved of 1, 810 million yuan, 44,371 settled , 1, 016 transferred to the judicial organ and 4,065 dens for counterfeit manufacture are smashed. Also during the period, the public security department investigated 7, 140 cases of infringement and counterfeits, with 9, 305 suspects were arrested and 161. 1 million yuan is involved. During January to April, the procuratorate approved the arrestment in 1, 743 infringement or counterfeits cases and on 3, 289 individuals, and prosecuted 2, 516 cases and 4, 870 individuals. And also in the same period, 2, 586 criminal cases relating to the IPR infringement and counterfeits are filed in the courts throughout the nation, 2, 021 were settled and 3, 170 individuals are covered by the effective sentences.

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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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DOTA: Which Trademark Classes Shall Apply for Online Game in China?

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By Albert Chen

By the local news report in China, at the settlement of the dispute between Blizzard and Valve on the DOTA trademark (Please CLICK HERE for our past post on it), a new battle over “DOTA” has begun. A local registered company in Shandong Province in East China recently lettered to online shopping website like Taobao.com, claiming it has full right to use the trademark of “DOTA” in class 25, which covering clothes, shoes and hats. Also, the company presented the certificate to the trademark right with the letter. Therefore, the company accused the websites the infringement for selling the clothes with DOTA marked on it. For the news, we retrieved the database of Trademark Office of PRC, and by the check, the trademark does belong to Wang Yongbao, the name indicated on the certificate, while it remains unknown through which methods does the company get the license to use the trademark from Wang. Meanwhile, it also comes to our attention that, in addition to Wang, the trademark of DOTA has been registered under other individuals or units’ name in different classes, involving Zheng Miao in Class6 and Ningbo Jiangbei District Dong Tai Clothing Co., Ltd., in Class 26, etc.

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New iPad Comes to China in June & New Progress of iPad Battle in China as Reported

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By You Yunting

According to the report, an insider said :” The New iPad will be officially on sale in the middle of this month in China mainland. Many dealers have begun to book orders. In addition, the insider said that Apple Inc and WeiGuan company have reached a” reconciliation” on some extent in the case of trademark IPAD in mainland.

According to the information announced by the website of Telecommunication Equipment Certification Center (A department under Chinese Ministry of industry and information technology ) in the end of last month, a mobile device of Apple( Apple, Inc., AAPL ) compatible with China Unicom ( China Unicom Ltd., CHU ) has obtained the license. From the wording of Telecommunication Equipment Certification Center, the device should be the Apple ‘s new iPad.

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Will JDB Revoke Wang Lao Ji Trademark Arbitration Award through Litigation?

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By You Yunting

In recent, a spat over the established brand Wang Lao Ji, also known as Wong Lo Kat, which is the most valuable herbal tea trademark in China, has occurred. The biggest distributor of the drink in China, JDB group, claimed that it has filed the application to Beijing No. 1 Peoples’ Bank to revoke the adjudication made by the China International Economic and Trade Committee (CIETAC) on the dispute.

The basic facts of the case in the reports: Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd. (the “Guangzhou Pharmaceutical’, SZSE: 600332) is the registered owner of the Wang Lao Ji trademark, who signed a trademark license agreement with Hung To Group Co., Ltd. (the “Hung To”, the parent company to JDB), by which Hung To gets the loan of the trademark of 10 years.

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