Shall Quantities of Malicious Registration Be Improper Means in China Trademark Law?

(By Wang Ting) In China, the Trademark Law applies the Principle of First Filing and when the Trademark Office reviews these applications, they usually examine whether there are prior applications or registrations existed, but not the intentions of filing such prior registrations. It means they don’t consider the bad faith during trademark registration procedure. Many foreign companies have applied and obtained the trademarks for their own products and services at the beginning. However, as so-called villains can always outsmart, besides the malicious registrations of others’ un-registered trademarks, there are lots of cases in which the trademark squatters register the well-known or popular trademarks on different goods or services. Thus foreign companies suffered from such consequences. Today, in our introduced case, we are going to discuss about the situations that the acts of malicious registrations under different classes are finally determined as improper means as stipulated in the Trademark Law.

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Introduction to the 2013 Trademark Law, Part 2

(By Zhan Yi) On August 30, 2013, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress promulgated Decisions of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress Concerning Alterations to the Trademark Law of the People’s Republic of China, which shall be implemented on May 1, 2014. Our website previously translated the Full text of 2013 China Trademark Law, we provided a Comparison Version highlighting the differences between the 2001 and 2013 Trademark Law. In today’s post, our website will introduce and discuss the revised content within the 2013 Trademark Law. Without further ado, we will now move on to the second part of our examination of the 2013 Trademark Law.

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McDonald’s Lost the First Instance of the Trademark Administrative Lawsuit against Wonderful

We once reported the administrative refusal on Mcdonald’s opposition on Wonderful’s trademark (the W trademark) which is similar to Mcdonald’s “M” trademark (you may check the details in How Could McDonald’s Beat Free Rider of Trademark in China?). After that, Mcdonald’s initiated the administrative lawsuit on the refusal.

According to Beijing Morning Post’s report on 10th December, Beijing First Intermediate People’s Court judged on the first instance of the administrative lawsuit, refusing the claims of Mcdonald’s.

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New Chinese Laws & Regulations of November, 2011 (1)

Today, Bridge IP Law Commentary will post you the latest China laws and regulations promulgated in November, and the following is the first part of the month:

1. The State Council of People’s Republic of China decides to start pilot VAT reform in Shanghai and a series of policies will be promulgated

On 16th November, 2011, the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation issued the Experimental Plan of Transfer of Levy on Business Tax to VAT, and the Notice of Experiment of Transfer of Levy on Business Tax to VAT in the Transportation Industry and Part Modern Service Industries in Shanghai, which provide that the pilot of VAT replaces the existing business tax will be carried out in the transportation industry and part modern service industries in Shanghai from 1st January, 2012. Before that, with regarding to VAT, the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation has issued the Notice on Return the Period-end Un-credited VAT Levied on the Purchase of Integrated Circuit Enterprises, and on the same day, the State Administration of Taxation issued the Announcement on the Adjustment of the Administration Measures of the Preferential Policy “Levy first and Return Immediately” for VAT.

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How Could McDonald’s Beat Free Rider of Trademark in China?

Highlights:This article introduces the case initiated by McDonald’s to protect its trademark right against malicious imitation and the related laws and regulations in China, also the legal suggestions from Bridge IP Commentary to McDonald’s in the case that to protect its right basing on the general vocabulary defined in the Trademark Law and the copyright of its trademark.


Recently, the McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD) administrative litigation against the imitation of its trademark by a Beijing company attracts the media’sattention. Several years ago, the trademark “wonderful and its graph” (hereinafter referred to trademark “W”)was registered by  the company in the State Administration of Industry and Commerce, and the registered ranges include restaurant, café, research and development, clothing design and so on. On finding the trade mark and the judgment of similarity with its “M”, McDonald’s then filed an opposition against the trademark to the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board(hereinafter referred to the Trademark Board) under the State Administration of Industry and Commerce for re-examination. The Trademark Board finally decides to cancel the registration of the trademark “W” in the field of restaurant, café, cocktail party service, hotel, bar, teahouse service, however, while to maintain the registration in clothing design and package design. Therefore, MacDonald filed an administrative litigation to the Beijing First Intermediate People’s Court to cancel the decision of the Trademark Board.

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More Attention on Brand Protection in West China

Highlights: To introduce the brand protection system in China, involving protection on registered trademark, well-known trademark regulated in Trademark Law as well as on noted trademark, famous trademark and top brand provided in local regulations.

According to Chinese media, Lanzhou Administration for Industry & Commerce in Gansu Province of West China launched the first noted trademark selection from August, 2011, and anyone owning registered trademark, whether an individual, corporation or other organizations, may participate in the selection. The report also says the noted trademark system in Lanzhou will be gradually established for more Gansu famous trademarks and China well-known trademarks in the city. Such news shows that more and more attention is being paid to brand construction and intellectual property protection in the relatively less-developed western region of China.

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