Understand IP, Understand Business | International IP/IT Review

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The Dispute over Trademark Infringement between Dongguan Wuyang Water Meter Manufacturing Co., Ltd. and Chen Huijie

ZLWD Commentary:

Chen Huijie lost the case since he used “Guangzhou Wuyang” on the commodities he sold, which is the same trademark as the one Wuyang registered. This act certainly has misled the consumers. It is hard for consumers to distinguish whether the product is authentic or fake when Chen Hujie put “Guangzhou Wuyang” in his selling link of the very product, which constitutes trademark infringement act according to the Trademark Law.

No Time to Say Goodbye: Xiami Lost in Copyright Competition and Announced to Shut Down 

on Feb 5

ZLWD Commentary:

Online music industry is gradually being standarlised. However, the copyright competition never stopped. Apart from Xiami, there are many more music applications struggled in this competition. Some music application giants enjoy exclusive copyright. On the music platform, some songs are exclusive to one giant, and some songs are exclusive to another giant. This would be a huge blow to smaller music platforms.

Xiami is a niche music gathering place which understand the taste of users, but the failure lies in the lack of copyright. In the high price battle of copyright, Xiami only enjoys 30% of copyright, which can not meet the needs of users. The closure of Xiami also reflects that the domestic music market is paying more attention to music copyright.

Viya Applied Her Name “Viya” Trademark, Rejected by the NIPA

ZLWD Commentary:

 It is true that names like “Viya” and “Vivian” are quite obvious female English names, which can be easily registered on clothing products. Although Viya has a high popularity, she cannot register the trademark under her own name, according to article 30 of the Trademark Law, “trademark to be registered which does not comply with the relevant provisions of this Law or the subject matter trademark which is identical or similar to a trademark registered by others for the same type of commodities or similar commodities or a trademark preliminarily validated shall be thrown out by the trademark bureau and shall not be gazetted.”

Sany was Hitchhiked? The Court Awarded Sany RMB 7 million

ZLWD Commentary:

Sany already enjoys a high reputation for its related trademarks and enterprise names. As a closely related company in terms of industry and products, Shanyi shall reasonably avoid the relevant well-known trademarks and well-known enterprise names like Sany. Shanyi not only failed to take the initiative to avoid, but registered twice the same trademark as Sany, which were failed to register. Its acts reflect the subjective malice of trying to obtain unfair competitive advantage.

For enterprises that are closely related to well-known enterprise names with prior ownership, they shall take the initiative to avoid the prior well-known enterprise names, especially the commodities related to them, in case they are recognized as similar commodities. This is to eliminate the risk of trademark infringement and unfair competition.

Qiaodan Sports Company was Ruled to Stop Using "Jordan" in its Business and Compensated RMB 350,000!

ZLWD Commentary:

Personality right is the basic civil right of natural person. As an important personality right of natural person, name right is protected by law. The protection of the right to name is mainly reflected in the interests of personality.

Anyone who interferes, falsely uses, misappropriates the name of another person or intentionally causes confusion constitutes an infringement of the right to name of another person. The plaintiff Jordan forms a sound and solid correspondence to his Chinese translation name “Qiaodan” and enjoys the right of name according to law. Qiaodan Sports Company knows the plaintiff Jordan's popularity, but still conducted unauthorized registration of trademarks. The company also use “Jordan” in its commercial activities, and cause confusion to the relevant public, which obviously violated the plaintiff's name right.

Passed unanimously! Shanghai Intellectual Property Protection Regulations to be implemented as of March 1 next year

ZLWD Commentary:

 The Regulations of Shanghai Municipality on the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights stipulate that the relevant administrative departments of intellectual property rights shall, in combination with the development of "handling all affairs in one network" for government services and "unified administration in one network" for urban operation, optimize the government service process, strengthen information sharing, and realize the one-time logging in and handling all affairs relating to intellectual property rights in the whole network.

An IP may involve multiple dimensions such as copyright, trademark and patent at the same time, so multi-channel and all-round protection are needed. The unified inclusion of these matters in the administration of the "One Network Handling" platform of this Municipality will effectively save the cost of right holders and provide them with more comprehensive protection. At the same time, the obligee can accurately find responsible departments through a unified platform, so that more quickly confirmation and protection of rights.

The Amendment to the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China Involving These Intellectual Property Rights

ZLWD Commentary:

The revision to the relevant provisions on the crimes of IPR infringement in the Amendment to the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China is a specific measure to strengthen IPR protection and establish a "strict protection" system for IPR. The "crime of commercial espionage" is newly added, which is conducive to protecting the core interests of enterprises, creating a good business environment and promoting fair competition among enterprises, and will also crack down on the acts of using commercial espionage to damage the interests of the State and enterprises. 

China Intends to Establish Hainan Free Trade Port IPR Court

ZLWD Commentary:

The Hainan Free Trade Port IPR Court takes the lead in realizing the "three-in-one" trial of IPR cases nationwide, becoming another "highlight" in the top-level design of China's IPR protection. The expansion of the cases under the jurisdiction of IPR courts to the field of criminal justice not only involves the reform of the judicial jurisdiction over IPR cases, but also directly involves the collaboration and coordination among the public security organs, procuratorial organs and judicial organs in handling IPR cases. The implementation of the "three-in-one" model is conducive to the effective connection of the three different proceedings and mitigating the conflicts between different judgments. 

The Proportion of Online Trademark Applications in China Exceeded 98% in 2020

ZLWD Commentary:

The NIPA shall constantly improve online trademark service contents, optimize processes, simplify formalities, and deeply promote the reform of facilitating trademark registration.Meanwhile, efforts shall be made to further improve the examination and adjudication standards, continuously crack down on and curb non-use trademark hoarding and malicious registration, regulate trademark agency activities, and promote high-quality development of trademark examination and adjudication.

Special Fund Granted for EU SMEs to Apply for Trademark

ZLWD Commentary:

The Fund was established under the EUIPO’s project “Ideas Powered for Business” as part of the European Commission's Intellectual Property Action Plan. The plan provides financial assistance to trademark applicants in the form of refunds to all EU enterprises that meet the official definition of SMEs. The EU's SMEs that submit trademark registration applications to INPI or EUIPO will save about 50 percent of their basic expenses, up to EUR 1500.

This Newsletter is produced by Economic and Legal Development Research Centre for Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area 

For Your Reference Only.

Editorial Board: Wei LIN, 

Simon TANG，Lisi ZHOU,

Yu DENG, Yuming LI, Shell WU, 

Oyagi, Gong CHEN, Ning NING，

Zhao LIU，Yawen HAN

All Information published in this Newsletter is from open source.

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