In a notice dated February 27, 2020, the Chinese Trademark Office announced issuance of the Guidelines for the Examination of Epidemic Prevention and Control-Related Trademarks, which provides guidance on the examination of marks for the names of people involved in the epidemic, marks related to the epidemic virus and disease, marks related to epidemic-related drugs, marks for protective products (e.g., respirators), and other marks related to the epidemic.
Author: Aaron Wininger
Aaron Wininger is a Senior Attorney and Director of China Intellectual Property at Schwegman Lundberg & Woessner.
Shanghai People’s Procuratorate Launches Criminal Prosecution of Lego Block Infringers
On February 26, 2020, the Third Branch of the Shanghai People’s Procuratorate launched a criminal prosecution against Li Moumou (李某某) and nine others for copyright infringement of Lego toys. From September 11, 2017 to April 23, 2019, Li Moumou and others produced and sold 634 types of infringing products with a volume of 4.24 million boxes and generating revenue of more than 300 million yuan (about $42.6 million USD). On April 23, 2019, public security organs seized more than 600,000 …
Chinese Patent Filings Show Uptick in January 2020
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China’s Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Christian Louboutin’s Red Sole Trademark
In January 2020, China’s Supreme People’s Court (最高人民法院) ruled in favor of Christian Louboutin for her red sole trademark. The Supreme People’s Court decision upholds an earlier decision from Beijing Higher People’s Court that ruled even though single color marks are not listed as eligible in Article 8 of the Chinese Trademark, Article 8 does not exclude marks not enumerated in Article 8. Specifically, Article 8 lists combinations of colors as eligible for application but does not list a single …