The inauguration of Joe Biden as the 46th president of the United States took place on January 20, 2021. However, Chinese companies have been applying for his name as a trademark as far back as 2004. Trademark applications increased significantly as the election race heated up in 2020 with 18 trademarks applied for in 2020 for Biden in English. The Chinese transliteration of Biden – 拜登 – was also popular with a 108 trademark applications in total (with 20 of …
Author: Aaron Wininger
Aaron Wininger is a Principal and Director of the China Intellectual Property at Schwegman Lundberg & Woessner.
Shell Awarded 5.5 Million RMB in Chinese Trademark Infringement Case
On January 21, 2021, the Beijing Intellectual Property Court announced the awarding of 5.5 Million RMB (~$851 thousand USD) in damages and expenses to Shell International and Shell China for trademark infringement regarding automobile lubricants. The Court also awarded an injunction against the 5 defendants: corporations North Shell Company (北壳公司), Jianchi Company (剑驰公司) , Annaichi Company (安耐驰公司), and persons Wang and Song.
Top Patentees in China for 2020
According to an analysis by Incopat, corporate applicants accounted for about 67% of Chinese invention patents in 2020, among which Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.’s is by far the leader. College and university patentees accounted for about 22% with Zhejiang University continuing to rank number 1 for invention patents. The top foreign corporate patentee was Samsung Electronics at #9. The top American corporate patentee was Qualcomm at #16.
U.S. Trade Representative Names 5 Chinese Online Markets in 2020 Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy
The United States Trade Representative (USTR) released their annual Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy for 2020 on January 14, 2021 and included five mainland Chinese online markets in the online market section of the list. Markets on the list are reported to engage in or facilitate substantial trademark counterfeiting and copyright piracy. There is no penalty for being listed but the list has been used to encourage foreign companies and countries to crack down on piracy and counterfeiting. …