Recent Developments in China
Trademark Law Amended
The Trademark Law of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was amended on April 23, 2019, by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC), with the changes scheduled to enter into effect on November 1, 2019.
The revised law dramatically increases the maximum level of statutory and punitive damages against infringers, but the most exciting provisions in the law are those intended to address the chronic problem of bad-faith trademark registration.
The new law explicitly prohibits bad-faith filings where evidence of intent to use is lacking and grants administrative authorities the power to reject such filings rather than merely dealing with them incidental to oppositions and invalidations. The revised law also prohibits trademark agents from knowingly assisting applicants to file such applications.
Beyond these promising changes, the revised law makes China a pioneer in global efforts to address bad-faith registration by granting administrative authorities the power to impose fines and other penalties against trademark warehousers and their trademark agents. The law also grants civil courts the power to impose penalties against “malicious trademark litigants”—no doubt with the aim of deterring registry pirates from filing civil actions against victim brands for the purpose of extorting compensation.
It is unclear whether draft implementing regulations to the new law will be issued for public comment. The implementing regulations are in any case expected to be issued before the revised law enters into effect on November 1, 2019.
Draft Provisions against Bad Faith Registration
In February 2019, the China National IP Administration (CNIPA) issued draft rules for public comment that would offer new procedures and penalties for dealing with bad-faith filings.
The draft “Provisions on Standardizing Applications for Registration of Trademarks” would allow IP owners to file petitions to CNIPA to request effective blacklisting of so-called “abnormal” filers, with the following potential consequences:
