China Adopts New Trademark Law - Do We Care?

China has never been known as a paragon of intellectual property protection.  In fact, quite the opposite. However, in a stated effort to modernize and to try and take a more proactive leadership role on the world stage, China has decided to bring its IP laws into alignment with Western laws.  Well, some of them anyway.

After discussions and consultations for nearly 10 years, China’s National People’s Congress finally passed the “Decision on Revising the Trademark Law of the People’s Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as ‘Decision’)” on August 30, which adopts the third amendment to the country’s Trademark Law. The Decision is scheduled take effect on May 1, 2014, and has brought significant changes to the country’s current Trademark Law.

The Decision has made 53 revisions to the current Trademark Law in the following five areas:

• Adding provisions regarding the trademark review period;
• Improving the opposition system for trademark registration;
• Regulating the protection system for well-known trademarks;
• Strengthening the exclusive rights protection of trademarks; and
• Regulating the activities of trademark agencies.

Of course, only time will tell if these revisions will have any practical effort, especially for extraterritorial companies and individuals trying to enforce their IP rights against Chinese companies and Chinese nationals.

For additional information, check out a very detailed article on the subject by Jason Wang and Yan Zhang of the Beijing East IP Law Firm which can be found at http://ipchina.ip4all.com/?p=288.

 

#China #Trademarks #ChinaTrademarkLaw #HKC #HartKing&Coldren #IntellectualProperty