NEWS & PUBLICATIONS
W&B and JETRO Jointly Hosted a Lecture Entitled “Influences of the New Trademark Law on the Companies’ Trademark Management”
Thu Sep 19 15:21:00 CST 2019 Published by:Editor

On the morning of September 17th, this year’s first “IP Lecture for Chinese Employees of Japanese Companies” was successfully hosted in the conference room on the 21st floor of Shanghai International Trade  Center. The lecture, jointly hosted by W&B and JETRO and entitled “Influences of the New Trademark Law on the Companies’ Trademark Management”, was delivered by W&B’s Partner, Mr. Liming Zhang.

 

Mr. Zhang’s lecture mainly covered five topics: major revisions under the new Trademark Law, background for the amendment to the Trademark Law, trademark portfolios, countermeasures to preemptive trademark registrations and trademark management.

 

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According to the Decision on Amendments to Eight Laws incl. the Construction Law of the People’s Republic ofChina, which was passed at the 10th Session of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People’s Congress on April 23rd, 2019, the fourth amendment was made to the Trademark Law. Taking into account such a significant legislative advancement, Mr. Zhang summarized the major articles involved in the amendment, including the provisions on regulating bad faith applications for trademark registration, the obligations of trademark agencies, the reasons for trademark opposition and invalidation and the penalties upon bad faith infringement of trademark rights. Besides, Mr. Zhang also analyzed in detail the legislative background for the amendment this time.

 

Regarding how to set the enterprises’ trademark portfolios, Mr. Zhang introduced the two forms involved in trademark portfolios in mainlandChina, namely defensive trademarks and associated trademarks. In addition, he also introduced the three systems applicable for trademark portfolios overseas: the single country system, the Madrid system, and the regional organization system, and pointed out issues to keep in mind when using each of these systems.

 

In response to the issue of preemptive trademark registrations, Mr. Zhang began by listing and analyzing several typical cases where profits were gained based on prior registered trademarks; afterwards, he also provided a detailed list of recent landmark cases involving preemptive trademark registrations. For example, cases involving (i) trademark hoarding, as specified in Article 44 of the Trademark Law; (ii) infringement of prior rights, as specified in Article 32; (iii) malicious registration of similar trademarks, as specified in Articles 30 and 31; (iv) imitation of well-known trademarks, as specified in Article 13; (v) deceptive trademarks likely to mislead the public, as specified in Article 10; and (vi) those violating the principle of good faith, as specified in Article 7.

 

Regarding the issue of trademark management, Mr. Zhang discussed the topic from the perspectives including standardized use, establishment of trademark archives, preservation of evidence of use, and trademark renewal. In all stages of the process, including registration, management, publicity, monitoring and maintenance, he pointed out issues for the audience to keep in mind in their everyday business management process, so that the enterprises would avoid undesirable passive situations.

 

After the lecture, Mr. Zhang interacted with the attendees and answered some questions they had encountered in their daily operations.

 

The series of “IP Lectures for Chinese Employees of Japanese Companies” have been a long-term cooperation project between Watson & Band and JETRO’s Shanghai Office. Watson & Band pays close attention to latest developments in various industries and attaches great importance to collecting and analyzing related survey results, based on which the lecture topics are well tailored to meet the clients’ specific needs. We are dedicated to provide the best legal and practical guidance for Chinese employees of Japanese companies in easternChina.


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