作者：金杜律师事务所商标组
当下，商标权是中国最热门的话题之一，最新的主要事件有美国篮球明星迈克尔•乔丹状告中国运动服和鞋类生产商乔丹体育股份有限公司涉嫌侵犯其姓名权，“林书豪”的商标在中国已被抢注，而一家域名为“lingshuhao.com”的网站正在寻求转让。
系列商标事件引起了中国网民和相关学者的强烈关注。多数网民都以理性的态度加入探讨，并呼吁严格按照相关法律解决问题。有网民表示，如今中国已经从单一、封闭市场转向开放的国际化平台，与海外企业的互动和竞争都会随之提升，没有诚信和法制注定被世界所抛弃。Continue Reading 从多起”商标抢注事件”看当前中国知识产权保护问题
By King & Wood Mallesons’ Trademark Group
On December 16, 2011, the Supreme People’s Court of China issued the Opinions on Exerting the Function of Intellectual Property Rights Judgment to Facilitate Socialist Cultural Development and Prosperity and Promote Independent and Coordinated Economic Development (the "Opinions"). The Opinions provide several guidelines on the trial of trademark infringement cases, which mainly touch upon the following issues:
a. Deliberate plagiarism in bad faith. To determine whether an alleged infringer has acted in bad faith, the trial court shall adopt comprehensive criteria by taking into account the reputation and distinctiveness of trademarks, similarities between trademarks and designated goods, and whether the applicant/registrant has the intention to use the mark and the improper use of the marks, such as trademark squatting and free-riding activities.Continue Reading The Supreme People’s Court: Giving Full Play to Intellectual Property Trial Functions
作者：金杜律师事务所商标组
2011年12月16日，最高人民法院印发了《关于充分发挥知识产权审判职能作用推动社会主义文化大发展大繁荣和促进经济自主协调发展若干问题的意见》的通知，针对知识产权问题的审判工作提供了指导性意见，其中有关商标的重要内容包括：
1. 关于恶意抢注等不正当行为： 依法加强商标权保护，要根据商标的知名度、显著程度等，恰当运用商标近似、商品类似、在先使用并且有一定影响的商标、以欺骗或者其他不正当手段取得商标注册等裁量性法律标准，妥善把握商标注册申请人或者注册人是否有真实使用意图，以及结合商标使用过程中的“傍名牌”行为认定主观恶意等加大遏制恶意抢注、“傍名牌”等不正当行为的力度。Continue Reading 一最高人民法院最新有关充分发挥知识产权审判职能作用的意见
By King & Wood’s Trademark Group
Whether revocation of the certificate of incorporation will result in deprivation of the capacity of trademark owners as well as the trademark rights depends on the nature of the trademark owners.
The term "trademark owners" refer to any individuals, legal entities or other organizations that enjoy trademark rights under the law. Trademark owners include original owners and their successors. According to Article 9 of the amended PRC Trademark Law, the eligible trademark applicants are defined as enterprises, institutions, social organizations, privately or individually-owned businesses, individual partnerships, foreign individuals and foreign enterprises.Continue Reading Can Trademark Right Still Exist When a Certificate of Incorporation Is Revoked?
作者：金杜律师事务所商标组
权利人营业执照被吊销是否会导致商标权利人主体资格和商标权利的丧失，这取决于商标权利人的性质。
“商标权利人”，也就是商标权的所有人，是指依法享有商标权利的任何自然人、法人和其他组织。商标权利人包括最初权利人和继受权利人。经过对《商标法》的数次修改，目前在《商标法》第9条中规定的商标申请人为企事业单位、社会团体、个体工商户、个人合伙、外国人和外国企业。Continue Reading 营业执照被吊销，商标权利还存在么？
By King & Wood’s Trademark Group
In March, the leading domestic industrial recorder enterprise Hangzhou Pangu Automation Systems Co., Ltd. ("Pangu Ltd.", 杭州盘古自动化系统有限公司) found that searching on www.baidu.com ("Baidu", 百度公司) for "Pangu recorders (in Chinese)" etc. returned results heading "Pangu recorder professional manufacturer Hangzhou Mengkong instruments www.mkong.com.cn (in Chinese)", and clicking the link leads to the website of Hangzhou Mengkong Instrument Technology Co., Ltd. ("Mengkong", 杭州盟控仪表技术有限公司).Continue Reading First Instance Court Finds that Internet Keywords Constitute Infringement by Using Unauthorized Trademark
作者：金杜律师事务所商标组
今年3月，国内工业记录仪龙头企业杭州盘古自动化系统有限公司，发现在百度网站www.baidu.com搜索“盘古记录仪”等时，返回的搜索结果的第一条的标题为“盘古记录仪专业生产厂家，杭州盟控仪表www.mkong.com.cn”，点击后即进入杭州盟控仪表技术有限公司)的企业网站。
盘古公司早在2002年10月14日就已经在“集成仪表；工业自动化控制系统”商品上注册了“PG图+PANGU+盘古”文字图形组合商标（如下图所示）。Continue Reading 一审认定将他人商标设为网络搜索关键词构成商标侵权
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组
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
King & Wood’s Trademark Group
On November 9, 2011, the China Trademark Office (the "TMO") has partially adjusted its official website for the purpose of facilitating the public in browsing and searching information about recordal of pledges of exclusive rights to registered trademarks. The adjustments are in respect of the place of the information, the means of disclosure and the items of disclosure.
Thanks to such adjustments, the public may directly search whether the exclusive right of a registered trademark is pledged in the column "Use of Trademark Rights" on the TMO website, including name of the pledgor, name of the pledgee, the registration number of the pledged trademark, and validity period of the pledge. Moreover, the pledge information in e-charts has changed to web links below which the public may find a collection of information of pledges as of November 2009.Continue Reading China Trademark Office Adjusts Means of Disclosure for Pledge of Exclusive Rights