Stamping out the copycats

A damages win for New Balance offers a warning of things to come for China’s infringers, reports Alex Baldwin.

As China continues to expand its international business ventures and collaborations, it has undertaken the heavy task of completely reforming its IP protection rights.

In February President Xi Jinping called for the strengthening of protections both at home and abroad. Among the most recent of these changes are the higher damages awards for IP owners, aimed at tackling the large number of copycat trademarks prevalent across the country.

At a baseline, total damages payouts for trademark infringement has been raised en masse from RMB 3 million ($460,000) to RMB 5million, with the potential to go higher if bad faith can be proved. And in those bad-faith cases, the top-end fines are increasing.