Trademarks boom in 2012
Both Chinese and English versions are downloadable from their websites, http://www.ctmo.gov.cn/ and http://sbj.saic.gov.cn/
The report contains detailed trademark statistics and 14 chapters. Important figures include that in 2012, 1.6 million trademark applications were accepted, 16.3 percent more than the previous year; 1.2 million trademark applications were examined,1.8 percent up; 73,000 opposition cases were decided, 28.7 percent ahead of 2011; and 52,500 trademark review cases were handled, a jump of 50 percent.
By the end of 2012, cumulative trademark applications in China reached 11.3 million. There were 7.6 million trademark registrations of which 6.4 million remain valid.
TT v TT Design
On May 15, 2013, the Intermediate Court of Kunming, Yunnan province, heard a case brought by the individual auto parts dealer Zhang Xiaoping against Audi AG, Audi (China) Enterprise Management Co, Ltd and Yunnan Liandi Auto Services Co, Ltd for trademark infringement.
In the hearing, the plaintiff argued that the defendants’ use of the trademark ‘TT’ had infringed his trademark right on:
