Trademarks: In bad faith
The number of trademark registrations in China is rapidly increasing. Economic developments, increasing public awareness of the importance of IP protection, the optimised trademark registration procedure and reduced registration costs, are all driving the increase.
Based on information released by the National Intellectual Property Administration, in the first half of 2019 the number of trademark registrations in China was 3.5 million, a year-on-year increase of 67.8%. By the end of June 2019, trademark registrations reached 22.7 million.
Meanwhile, we cannot ignore the problems that come with these: bad-faith registrations aiming at others’ well-known trademarks and trademark squatting. The latter is the practice of registering trademarks similar to or identical with others’ trademarks—not for use but for gaining profits from the legitimate right owners.
The administrations and the courts in China are taking measures against bad-faith trademarks during the registration procedure and in administrative or civil litigations. There are already regulations against the applications and registrations of others’ well-known trademarks in the current Trademark Law.
According to article 32 of the China Trademark Law, no application for trademark registration may infringe upon the existing prior rights of others, and bad-faith registrations by illicit means of a trademark with a certain reputation already used by another party shall be prohibited.
