On April 12, 2022, China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) issued the “Notice of the CNIPA on Continuing to Severely Crack Down on Malicious Registration of Trademarks” (国家知识产权局关于持续严厉打击商标恶意注册行为的通知). Among the highlights of the Notice include the listing of 10 illegal behaviors to be cracked down on and the elimination of awards or subsidies for trademark applications (including Madrid applications). This follows earlier crackdowns such as the cancellation of maliciously registered Olympic-related trademarks ex officio in February.
Category: Trademarks
China’s National Intellectual Property Administration Releases Second Batch of Guiding Cases of Administrative Enforcement
On March 31, 2022, the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) issued the Second Batch of Guiding Cases for Administrative Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights (第二批知识产权行政执法指导案例). Administrative enforcement provides for a second avenue for enforcement of intellectual property rights in China in addition to civil litigation. The Guiding Cases include 3 cases covering patent infringement, trademark infringement and design patent infringement.
3-Year Prison Sentence Affirmed for 3M Mask Counterfeiter in Shanghai’s Third Intermediate People’s Court
On March 25, 2022, the Shanghai Third Intermediate People’s Court announced the affirmance of an earlier ruling sentencing defendant Wu XX to 3-years imprisonment and a 100,000 RMB fine (~$15 thousand USD) for counterfeiting a registered trademark of 3M on masks. In a larger case last year, the same court upheld a sentence of 4.5-years imprisonment for counterfeiting registered trademarks for 3M on masks. The number of seized counterfeit 3M registered trademark masks in the instant case were about 1/10 …
China’s Trademark Office Releases 2021 Statistics: 482K Malicious Applications Rejected; 7 Months to Registration; Registrations Up 34% YoY
On March 23, 2022, the Trademark Office of the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) released a summary of statistics for 2021 in a document entitled 这些数字，让我们记住2021年！ Like the Patent Office of CNIPA cracking down on “irregular” patent applications, the TM Office rejected 482,000 trademark application for malicious registration not intended for use and preemptively rejected 1,628 malicious trademarks applications that harm social and public interests, and invalidated 1,729 registered trademarks ex officio. The preemptive rejections may be for Olympic-related …