In a notice issued November 9, 2020, the China National Intellectual Property Administration announced that it organized a comprehensive review of the 47,000 trademark agencies registered with CNIPA under the Blue Sky IP industry rectification campaign. Through self-examination, the top violation of trademark law and regulation by trademark agencies was the malicious squatting and hoarding of trademarks with 858 cases (44.94% of all violations); unlicensed practice of patent law 561 (29.4% of the total) was second; third, worryingly, was forging …
Category: Trademarks
Beijing Fines Alibaba 100,000 RMB for Malicious Trademark Filings
The Beijing Chaoyang District Market Supervision Administration (SAMR) recently published 京朝市监工罚（2020）230号, which fined Alibaba Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd. for attempting to register multiple coronavirus-related trademarks in China on behalf of several applicants. Alibaba is the largest e-commerce platform in China and the #1 e-commerce platform in the world based on gross merchandise value. Alibaba was acting as a trademark agent knowingly (or should have known) in violation of circumstances specified in Articles 19 paragraph 3 and 68 paragraph 1(3) of …
China’s Draft Measures for the Administration of Trademark Agencies Should Further Reduce Trademark Squatting
On September 24, 2020, the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) issued the Administrative Measures for Trademark Agencies (Draft for Comment) (商标代理管理办法 (征求意见稿)). While the measures mostly address the management of Chinese trademark agencies, several articles in the measures will be beneficial to foreign brands that have been and continue to be at risk of trademark squatting in China.
China Issues Draft Provisions on the Protection of Geographical Indications
In follow up to the signing of an agreement with the European Union on Graphical Indications (GIs), on September 24, 2020, the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) issued the Provisions on the Protection of Geographical Indications (Draft for Comment) (商标代理管理办法 (征求意见稿)). GIs are, per the 1995 Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), “indications which identify a good as originating in the territory of a Member, or a region or locality in that territory, where a …