The New Chinese Trademark Law

A new trademark law will take effect in the People's Republic of China on May 1, 2014. The new law has some fairly important goals:

• It improves and streamlines the registration process;
• It attempts to deter trademark hijacking by imposing principles of good faith on trademark filings;
• It clarifies rules on "well-known trademarks";
• It increases the fines for trademark infringement to six times the previous limits; and
• It increases the kinds of things that can be trademarked, including sounds.

There's many other changes as well. Luckily, the first book in English on the new Chinese Trademark Law has just been published by Carolina Academic Press as the inaugural volume in a new international legal practice series. It's called, fittingly enough, Chinese Trade Mark Law: The New Chinese Trademark Law of 2014.  Here's the description from the publisher, noting perhaps the book's most significant feature: the first English translation of the new Chinese Trademark Law:

Chinese trademark law will change dramatically in May 2014 when the Third Revision of the Trademark Law institutes various changes, including increased statutory damages for trademark infringement, stronger trademark protections, and obligations on Chinese trademark agencies.

This book predicts how the new law will affect Chinese trademark practice and includes an appendix of all of the related laws as well as the first English translation of the new law. Most publications that discuss China’s new trademark law provide a brief review of its most important amendments. This book goes several steps further by providing and analyzing each amendment in the new trademark law. It also includes practical advice for practitioners of Chinese trademark law.

This book facilitates readers’ understanding of the new law by carefully categorizing and explaining each amendment and how it will change Chinese trademark practice. It also tailors itself to both non-Mandarin and Mandarin readers by providing in-depth English explanations and analysis as well as citing the original Mandarin language for each amendment.

This book launches a new CAP series of essential books for International Legal Practice and is recommended for international business and intellectual property lawyers as well as lawyers interested in Chinese law.

Congratulations to book author Paul Kossof on the publication of this book. Click here for more information about the book on Chinese Trademark Law.  

Click here for a further article on the new Chinese Trademark Law on the Asia Law Portal.

(mew)