Planet Labs Inc.
Not content with claiming sovereignty over nearly every crag of rock and spit of sand in the South China Sea, China has taken the unusual step of registering trademarks over hundreds of land features scattered throughout those disputed waters, a BenarNews investigation has found.
That action is meeting with disapproval from other South China Sea claimants. Taiwan and Vietnam have rejected the legitimacy of the trademarks, which experts described as a possible attempt by the People’s Republic of China to control how domestic and even foreign companies use South China Sea branding.
Unlike most of China’s assertive behavior in the South China Sea, the trademark registrations largely slipped under the radar when they were initiated seven years ago. But now a review of Chinese government records from 2014 by BenarNews has revealed that Sansha City – which is responsible for administering China’s claims in the South China Sea – filed thousands of
April 14 2021
Trademark squatting is a perennial headache for existing foreign companies and those trying to enter the Chinese market. In China, squatters may not just be local competitors but also syndicates operating as a giant profit-making machine, and they are upping their game as the Chinese government and brand owners have both increased their efforts in defending legitimate trademark rights.
While tackling trademark squatters may seem daunting, a well-devised strategy would go a long way in acting in both offence and defense against bad faith trademark squatting in China. In this article, recent trends in curbing bad faith filings are explored and practical tips on combatting squatters are considered.
April 14 2021
It is generally considered that the Anti-Unfair Competition Law of the People s Republic of China offers supplementary protection to IP. The Anti-Unfair Competition Law also regulates the unfair competition acts in the field of IP, thus it could be applied against abuse of IP rights.
Scope of protection
As defined in Article 2 of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law, the act that violates this law, disrupts market competition order or infringes the legal rights and interests of other business operators or consumers during production or distribution activities belongs to the Unfair Competition Act.
It covers the act of confusion, commercial bribery, false or misleading commercial promotion, infringement on trade secret, prize-giving sales, fabricating or disseminating false or misleading information to damage the reputation of a competitor and the online market competition. There is also a catch-all general clause so that the Unfair Competition
April 14 2021
Trademark serves as an identifier of the source of goods or service and reflects the reputation of a business and the quality of the products and services.
The increasing awareness for brand establishment and protection has stimulated the demand for trademark registration applications and the trademark trading market has boomed. However, there are also some people, who are not business operators, but usurp this opportunity to rush register and hoard trademarks of others for profit.
In practice, normal business operators, the true brand owners and right holders, often found that trademark applications were being blocked by malicious registrations, meaning that a lot of time and money was spent overcoming the obstacles of the prior rights of these registrations.
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