It used to be rare for one of our clients to be unable to secure a desired trademark in China because someone had beaten them to it. With the proliferation of trademark filings in China over the last 3-5 years,
Clients often ask us which of their entities should own their IP (patents, trademarks and copyrights) in China. The basic answer is usually simple: whichever entity will be using the IP in China.
There are some perfectly legitimate reasons for wanting to separate the ownership and exploitation of IP rights – reasons related to tax,
George Santayana once said: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”? Although the line was not about Chinese trademark law, it might as well have been. We have been beating the drum for years about registering trademarks in China
Our China IP team regularly oversees requests to Chinese websites to take down counterfeit products. The success rate on getting these products removed within a week or so is North of 99%.
The following email (modified very slightly) crossed my computer the other day. It is from one of our China IP lawyers who does
I often get emails from people asking what my law firm charges for registering trademarks in China and I always respond by quoting our rate for a trademark analysis and stating that we will not “just” register their trademark in the category they tell us. If they want that, they should retain someone else.
I
One of the less endearing featuresof the Chinese trademark system is that the Chinese Trademark Office (CTMO) and the Chinese court system have different standards for what makes one trademark “confusingly similar” to another, which is the statutory basis for determining whether one trademark conflicts with another.
We are on record (and then some) about the importance of registering your trademark in China. In spite of our efforts — or perhaps because of them — nearly every week someone contacts us after discovering someone else has registered “their” trademarks in China.
Most people lump all such third party registrants together under
Our trademark clients often ask how many trademarks they ought to register in China. The answer is not as straightforward as it may seem.
As an initial matter, companies should register the brands they are actually using (or plan to soon use) and on
Our international IP lawyers love lists and the below is a list of the 12 things we most often recommend regarding China trademarks to our clients that do business in China and have at least one brand they care about. Most of these items apply with equal force to most other countries as well.
If you are doing business in or with China you should give serious thought to registering your trademarks in China. In particular, you should consider a China trademark registration for your trade-name, your logo and your service marks. Brand identity is critical for success in China (as