Category Archives: Non-litigation

Will Alcohol Trademarks Implying Them the State Liquor Be Registered in China?

By Albert Chen:

By the latest trademark gazette of State Trademark Office of China on 20th July of 2012, “Guo Jiu Mao Tai”, which implies it the state liquor, has come through the preliminary examination and has been published. The news soon agitated the argument among the industry and academic circle, and other brewers like Feng Jiu (SSE:600809) and Luzhou Laojiao (SZSE: 000568) have all expressed their oppositions on it and planed to block the registration of “Guo Jiu Mao Tai”.

As retrieved on the state trademark website, I find it’s not the trademark’s first application. Early in 2011, the applicant China Kweichow Moutai Distillery Co., Ltd (the “Maotai Company”) tried to register the trademark, yet it was refused by the authority and the same for the follow on 5 applications. The current preliminarily approved marks are concentrated in Class 33, covering the fruit wine, Bitter, wine, aperitif, spirit, and alcohol beverage excluding beer, etc.

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Will Lashou Lose its Trademark Battle after Apple?

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—Analysis on Lashou trademark dispute

By Luo Yanjie

According to a recent news report (note: the link is in Chinese), Lashou Company, the largest daily deal website in China, owns the right of Chinese trademark “拉手网”, but the English trademark “lashou” is owned by “Shenzhen Harmonious Network Limited ” (the former Shenzhen Qiandao Ecommerce Ltd, hereinafter referred to as Shenzhen company) who applied the trademark in February of 2012, 2 months earlier than Lashou company. Shenzhen declared that the company may defend its legal interests. In addition, due to the “lashou” trademark is now of the ownership of the Shenzhen company, we have also noticed the concerns of the continuing use of lashou.com by Lashou Company.

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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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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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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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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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Data on IPR Development in China, 2011

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In recent, the News Office of the State Council held a news conference (note: the link is in Chinese), releasing the data on China IPR development in 2011, and the details are as follows:

Under the unified deployment of special acts by the State Council in combating the IPR infringement and the production and selling of the fake and substandard products, the filed cases in the administration of each level are 155, 900 with the involved amount of CNY 3.43 billion, 1, 702 cases were transferred to judicial organs and 9, 135 shelters were shut down.

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China Ranked 7th International Trademark Application

On March 13th, from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) official website, in 2011, China submitted 2149 Madrid international trademark registration system application to WIPO, accounting for 5.1% of the total, and ranked seventh in the world with one position advanced by 2010. In addition, China remained the most designated country for trademark protection.

The top three applicants are EURO, Germany, U.S.A., and China took the post of the seventh with the application of 2149. For the annual development rate, Russia ranks first and China at the place of fourth.

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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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Tax Preferential Policy in China’s Animation Industry

It is reported by SECURITIES DAILY (note: the link is in Chinese) that there will be adjustment on tax policy in China animation industry. In recent, China Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation jointly issued a new policy supporting the animation industry, which introduces the VAT and the preferential business tax. And less tax and taxation of the both VAT and business tax will be made hereby.

I. For the sales of the independently developed animation software by the company of the general tax payer itself, the VAT shall be levied at the rate of 17% first, and the exceeding 3% amount of the actual tax bearing will be refunded. That’s the so called levy-refund policy.

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The Name on the Notorious List Could Also be the Well-known Trademark in China

Analysis on the Establishment of Well-known Trademark of Silk (秀水)

Recently, China Trademark Office, a branch of State Administration of Industry and Commerce announced the list of newly established well-known trademark of 2011, and the mark of Silk(“秀水” read as Xiu Shui or known as Silk)applied by Beijing Silk Street Market Co., Ltd (the “Silk Company”) was on it. Therefore the mark Silk gains the highest domestic trademark honor. Silk Company, the owner of the trademark stated on its official Weibo (twitter like website in China) account that “it is another milestone on the road of intellectual property autonomous development of Silk Market, and that will boost the development of brands of Silk Market based on the Silk mark.

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Complaints from China IT Tycoon: Weak Protection over IPR Jeopardizes Industry Innovation

According to the report of Nandu Daily, Mr. Ding Lei, the CEO of NetEase (NASDAQ: NTES) and the representative of People’s Congress in China stated on the conference of Guangdong People’s Congress that despite the innovation could make customers more satisfied and bring more market share to the company, which is also the impetus to the company, it’s also haunted with the dilemma of “more innovation more suffering” due to the weak protection on IPR by the state.

According to Ding’s words, the lawsuit on the infringement against the company may last for years, therefore the proceeding may be a suffering to the company; moreover, the judged compensation may be very low even the infringed company wins the lawsuit. “Previously, Baidu stately posted the works of Han Han in its product Baidu Wenku, and why? The reason could only be the poor combat on the infringement”, said Mr. Ding.

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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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