Trademark Law Amendment Placed on Agenda in China

      In an effort to shorten the terms for trademark registration and rights safeguarding, and to simplify lengthy procedures to benefit those involved, China is amending its Trademark Law for the third time. It was learned from the Symposium Commemorating the 25th Anniversary of the Promulgation of Trademark Law held in Beijing on August 23 that the revision scheme has been placed by the State Council on the agenda of legislation for which urgent preparation shall be made to await the ripe time and the State Administration for Industry and Commerce is doing research for it.
　   The Trademark Law, which entered into force as of March 1, 1983, is China's first law in the field of intellectual property. The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) passed two acts amending the Trademark Law in 1993 and 2001 respectively in order to keep pace with deepening reform and economic development.
  Mr. Wang Yongqing, deputy director of the Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council, said, “With the further development of the socialist market economy, some new situations and new problems arose in respect of trademark protection in China, which calls for the system to be improved for a solution.” Mr. Wang also said that the time period for trademark registration is too lengthy as it usually takes several years to complete, and besides, the procedures are so complicated that trademark owners must go through five steps to defend their rights. Meanwhile, new requirements on China’s trademark legislation are also raised by the developing international trademark legislation.
      In the opinion of Mr. Wang, the third revision of the Trademark Law will benefit the registrants in further simplifying the lengthy procedures, shortening the cycle of trademark registration and rights safeguarding, enhancing the protection of exclusivity of registered trademarks, keeping in line with the development of the international legislation on trademarks and accommodating the need of China’s trademarks to go abroad in large numbers.
      Mr. Zhou Bohua, Director of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, expressed that they are exploring possible amendments to the Trademark Law in a bid to adapt to the need of perfecting the socialist market economy system and strengthening IP protection.
      The Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council will cooperate with the relevant departments in the research and drafting of the amendment to the Trademark Law, and examine it in a quick manner after reporting the amendment draft to the State Council so as to have it submitted at an early date by the State Council to the NPC Standing Committee for deliberation.
      Applications for trademark registration in China have soared in recent years. By the end of last year, the number had reached nearly 5 million, with registered trademarks totaling 2.77 million. (Xinhua Network)
 

SAIC Authorizes 197 Well-known Trademarks This Year
      So far this year, the Trademark Office and Trademark Review and Adjudication Board of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) have newly authorized 197 well-known trademarks. Among them, there are many familiar trademarks to consumers and the public, such as Neiliansheng Shoes and Xinhua Bookstore. Further, 183 are for commodity trademarks, while 14 are for service trademarks.
     Among the 197 well-known trademarks, 182 belong to domestic enterprises, 1 is owned by an enterprise of Hong Kong SAR, 2 belong to Taiwan enterprises and 12 belong to foreign corporations. (Beijing Daily)

Changsha to Hold "2007 China Trademark Festival" in November
      On Nov. 3 -- 6, 2007, the “2007 China Trademark Festival” is to be held in Changsha, Hunan Province. This festival, approved by the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC), will be sponsored by the China Trademark Association (CTA) and Changsha Municipal People's Government, and hosted by Zhongqi Trademark Development Center, Changsha Municipal Administration for Industry and Commerce, the Management Office for Changsha Municipal Convention and Exhibition. This festival will be a grand gathering for international trademarks, in which hot issues on trademarks will be discussed, trademark cultures will be focused on, and achievements in the development of farm produce trademarks and geographical indications will be exhibited.
     Mr. Li Jianzhong, President of China Trademark Association (CTA) said at the news conference held on June 10 that the theme of "2007 China Trademark Festival" is to "Strengthen Trademark Protection and Promote Harmonious Development". It aims to enhance social consciousness of trademarks, especially of trademark protection, improve the enterprises' ability to develop trademark strategies, build a creative culture society that is conducive to promoting independent innovation and securing self-owned brands, enable trademark administration departments and judicial organs to build up mechanisms for encouraging independent innovation by making use of trademark law systems. It also aims at advancing communication and cooperation on the international protection of trademarks, publicizing worldwide the actions and measures taken by the Chinese government in the protection of exclusive trademark rights by using the trademark festival as an information platform. In the end, as expected, the festival will be a doorway leading China to be among the trademark powers and open up a new era for the harmonious development of China’s trademarks.
      During the festival, the Organizing Committee will hold five major theme activities including “2007 China Trademark Annual Meeting”, “Chinese Customer’s Favorite Trademark Survey 2007”, “Chinese Trademark Knowledge Contest 2007”, “Evening Party for 2007 China Trademark Festival” and “Chinese and Foreign Trademark Cultural Exhibition 2007”. Among them, “Chinese Customer’s Favorite Trademark Survey 2007” and “Chinese Trademark Knowledge Contest 2007” are to be initiated in succession in August. It has been preliminarily determined that Hunan TV is to host and broadcast the Evening Party on November 2.
       According to sources, a special website has been opened by the Organizing Committee, i.e. 2007 China Trademark Festival website (www.2007chinatrade.com), so as to help the exhibitors get quick access to the information they want and make timely feed-back, involve the audience in the theme activities of the festival from a short distance and give the media first-hand news in a convenient, timely way. It is expected that sound interaction will be realized among the Organizing Committee, exhibitors, audience and the media.
      It is said that the Organizing Committee has made careful and detailed publicity plans to provide a full coverage of the festival by uniting the nationwide major media headed by CCTV, as well as the local media in Hunan. At present, the Organizing Committee has, via the news conference and the opening ceremony of the theme activities, publicized the 2007 China Trademark Festival to the whole country and world, and provided strong publicity prior to the festival. It has been arranged that during the festival, the Economy Channel of CCTV will give a one-hour special report and the major media in Hunan will conduct special interviews. (Han Jingyi / China IP)

Translated by Zhang Meichang