The Supreme People's Court ("SPC") recently released the Interpretations on Relevant Issues Concerning the Application of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law of the People's Republic of China (the "Interpretations").

The Interpretations, consisting of 29 articles and based on the revised Anti-Unfair Competition Law, mainly detail Article 2 of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law, and address such issues as counterfeit and confusion, false publicity, and unfair competition behaviors online. Among others, regarding the "counterfeit and confusion", the Interpretations offer 11 articles to provide detailed interpretations on the "counterfeit and confusion", as specified in Article 6 of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law, from the following three perspectives. Firstly, Article 4 of the Interpretations clarifies the definition of the mark with "influence to a certain extent", and the factors to be considered when identifying such mark. Secondly, Article 7 of the Interpretations stipulates that if a mark is among those prohibited from use and registration under the Trademark Law, it will not be protected under the Anti-Unfair Competition Law. Thirdly, by following Article 2 of the Administrative Regulations on the Registration of Market Entities, the Interpretations refine the scope of the market entities whose names can be protected.

(Source: Supreme People's Court)