WTR presents the key IP and anti-counterfeiting pledges that rights holders should be aware of from the major new trade deal signed between the United States and China.
Chinese court rules in favour of BBC in trademark lawsuit: A Chinese court has ruled in favour of British Broadcasting Corporation in a trademark infringement lawsuit that a Beijing firm made unauthorised use of the “BBC” logo.
Mainland property tycoon Xu Jiayin, founder of China Evergrande Group (03333.HK), surprisingly lost in a lawsuit against a company that uses the billionaire’s name as a trademark. In 2013, a Chinese businessman named Chen Huanran registered “Xu Jiayin” (Chinese: 许家印) as a trademark to sell textile products of his firm. Xu was not aware of that until…
Japanese retailer Muji has been ordered to pay 626,000 yuan (US$89,000) and issue a public apology to a Chinese company after losing its appeal against an earlier court ruling on a trademark infringement.At a hearing last month, the Supreme People’s Court in Beijing upheld a 2017 ruling in favour of Natural Mill, whose parent company Beijing Cottonfield Textile Corp owns a trademarked name used by Muji.
Foreign geographical indications (GIs) may be granted protection even without a trademark registration in China. GIs are indications that identify a good as originating from a certain region or locality, where a given quality, reputation or other characteristic of the good is essentially attributable to the natural or humanistic features of the place indicated. What if an indication is accredited as a GI in its country of origin – is it sufficient to be granted protection in China without being registered as a trademark? On 10 January 2011, Fujian Longwang Trading filed an application to the Trademark Office for registration of Trademark No. 9037930 “罗曼尼·康帝” (disputed trademark, Chinese transliteration of “Romanee-Conti”) on class 33 goods of “Wine; Whiskey”. The application was approved for registration on 21 January 2012.