By King & Wood’s Trademark Group

There has been a long debate on whether an unregistered trademark can be the subject of a franchise contract in China. Proponents argue that an unregistered trademark is the franchiser’s property and is thus eligible for being franchised so long as it is of economic value in the eyes of the franchisee. Opponents of this argument see an unregistered trademark as not legally owned by a franchiser without going through the trademark registration process and therefore not eligible for being licensed in a franchise contract. The Regulation on Administration of Commercial Franchises ("Regulation on Franchises") (商业特许经营管理条例) enacted by the State Council of the PRC on February 6, 2007, while clearly including registered trademarks, enterprise marks, patents and know-how into the checklist of business resources that a franchiser "possesses" for franchising, fails to touch on the issue of unregistered trademarks. However, it leaves room by putting the catch-all of "any other business resource" undefined.Continue Reading An Unregistered Trademark is Formally Franchisable in Beijing

金杜律师事务所商标

未注册商标能否成为特许经营合同标的?长久以来争论不休。正方观点认为,未注册商标是特许人的无形财产,只要被特许人认可其经济价值,即可成为特许标的。反方观点认为未经注册,特许人未在法律上获得商标所有权,因此未注册商标不能作为特许人的经营资源而被许可给他人。国务院2007年2月6日颁布的《商业特许经营管理条例》明确把注册商标、企业标志、专利、专有技术列为特许人拥有的可许可给其他经营者使用的经营资源,但并未提及未注册商标。不过,与此同时,该《条例》又以“等经营资源”的表述方式留出解释空间。Continue Reading 北京正式确认未注册商标为可特许资源,其他地区待确认