China strengthens trademark and trade secret laws
China has amended two of its IP laws in a bid to enhance trademark and trade secret protection in the country.
Yesterday, April 24, China’s state-run press agency Xinhua said the country had revised the trademark law so that “improper behaviour” involving trademark registration would be tackled and stronger penalties would be issued.
"Trademark registration that is not for the purpose of use for business operations will be rejected," the amendment read.
The government also amended its Anti-Unfair Competition law, which mainly protects trade secrets. As per the amendment, penalties for trade secret theft will be raised and accessing trade secrets via electronic means will now also be illegal.
In its statement, Xinhua said the amendment to the IP laws means China will play a “significant role as a cornerstone of economic development, innovation and international trade”.
Shen Changyu, head of China’s National Intellectual Property Administration said the country was speeding up its transformation from industrialisation to informatisation.
Additionally, he said China was making efforts to shorten the average time of trademark review to less than five months and cut the review time of high-value patents by more than 15%.
“Invisible assets such as patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets and software are playing an increasingly important role during the transformation, and the importance of IP protection was becoming increasingly prominent,” Changyu said.
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