China revamped their Trademark Law and it has been in effect now since May of this year. With so many counterfeit and imitation goods coming out of China, many people across the world struggle with giving China creditability when it comes to respecting trademarking but their new trademarking laws will give them back some of the lost credibility. Not only will trademark infringement be taken more seriously, but misuses of the system will no longer be tolerated. The aim with the new law is to increase the protection against piracy, shorten the prosecution times, strength the well-known mark protection, increase fines, compensation and statutory damages for infringers. Additionally, the legal standing for oppositions and invalidations has been narrowed, sound marks and multiple class trademark applications have been made available and now challenged marks will proceed through the registration process more easily.
China has been a hotbed for trademark squatting for years. International businesses coming to China in the past would often have found that they’re mark had already been spoken for. With the revision of the trademark law, there has been a crack down on trademark privacy and registrations made in bad faith. Additionally, misuses of well-known mark status through fake litigation will come to an end. Moreover, opposition and invalidations will only be allowed to be brought by prior rights holders or interested parties thus reducing the arbitrary and bad faith oppositions to mark registration.
In terms of filing, e-filing is now allowed but is really only available domestically at the moment for standard goods items. It seems that the early hype about original powers of attorney and trademark applications being signed by the applicant have fallen away as the China Trademark Office has reverted back to the old filing requirements as set forth before the revised trademark laws.
If your business is considering registering their mark in China or already has a registered mark in China, it is best to review the new laws. We can help with any confusion and can assist in getting your trademark through the process of registration and recordal. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you require more information.
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