英文

Subscribe to 英文 via RSS

Supreme People’s Court’s Interpretation of the Application of Punitive Damages in Hearing Civil Cases Regarding Infringement upon Intellectual Property Rights (The “Interpretation”) came into effect on March 3rd, 2021. Later on March 15th, the SPC reported The Application of Punitive Damages in Civil Cases Regarding IPR Infringement: Typical Cases (The “Typical Cases”) to assist in understanding and applying the Interpretation and Punitive Damages in judicial practice.
Continue Reading Typical Cases | The Application of Punitive Damages Infringement: Typical Cases

China’s punitive damages system in the field of intellectual property was first embodied in the revised Trademark Law in 2013, and was incorporated into the revised Anti-Unfair Competition Law in 2019.  In recent years, with China gradually strengthening the protection of intellectual property rights, a consensus has been reached in the industry to establish a punitive damages system in the field of intellectual property comprehensively.  In the Civil Code of the People’s Republic of China enacted in 2020, the punitive damages system in the field of intellectual property is generally stipulated.  Correspondingly, both the Copyright Law and the Patent Law revised in 2020 stipulate a system of punitive damages ranging from one to five times, which is consistent with the Trademark Law and the Anti-Unfair Competition Law revised in 2019.  The punitive damages system in the field of intellectual property in China has been basically established as such.  However, the provisions on punitive damages in the Civil Code and various laws on intellectual property rights are silent about specific and explicit guidelines for application, and are different form each other in terms of wording and content to some extent, which leads to certain difficulties in practical application.  In order to better implement the punitive damages system for intellectual property rights, the Judicial Committee of the Supreme People’s Court passed the Interpretation on the Application of Punitive Damages in the Trial of Civil Cases of Infringement of Intellectual Property Rights (hereinafter referred to as the “Interpretation”) on February 7, 2021, which came into force on March 3, 2021.  The Interpretation, consisting of seven articles, specifies the applicable scope, content and timing of claims, determination of “intentional” and “serious circumstances”, as well as determination of the calculation base and fold to calculate the punitive damages in civil cases of intellectual property rights.  The key articles of the Interpretation are hereby commented on as follows for readers’ reference.
Continue Reading Brief Review of the Interpretation on the Application of Punitive Damages in the Trial of Civil Cases of Infringement of Intellectual Property Rights

The China market has been problematic for many international beauty brands.

On the one hand, by some measures China is already the world’s largest cosmetics market and is still growing fast. According to the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics, the consumer goods sales in December 2021 increased by a healthy 4.6% on a year-on-year basis. However, cosmetics grew by 9.0%[1].
Continue Reading Rabbits Rejoice – End of Animal Testing in China … kind of

The main reason of the opponent: before the application of the opposed trademark, the opponent’s cited trademarks have gained high popularity and influence, the opposed trademark is identical or similar to the opponent’s previously registered and used trademarks “WAHL” No. 18393195 in Class 3, “WAHL” No. 280072 in Class 8 and “WAHL” No. 14003711 in Class 8. The opposed party has the subjective Maliciousness of imitating the opponent’s trademark and take ride of the goodwill of the leading brands in the industry for its own benefit, and also has the intention to deceive and mislead the relevant public to confuse and misunderstand the source of the products. If the opposed party’s behavior is allowed, it is bound to harm the rights and interests of the real brand owner and cause confusion to the relevant consumers, leading to confusion in the market and causing many adverse social effects.
Continue Reading PRC Bad Faith Registration：Admission of Bad Faith and Breakthrough Classification

General Electric Company, as represented by King & Wood Mallesons, has recently won an important trademark litigation before the Supreme People’s Court in China after over ten years of process, resulting in its GE logo successfully recognized as well-known trademark in China.
Continue Reading GE Logo Recognized as Well-known Trademark after Winning a Long Battle before the Supreme People’s Court

The newly built Trademark Review Tribunal was officially put into use in the China Trademark Building this March, marking the official opening of the “offline + online” working mode for the regularization of “oral hearing” of trademark review. On the day of the hearing, the Trademark Review and Adjudication Division VII conducted online oral hearings on two cases of “DaFu Feiyue and Device” (“大孚DaFu Feiyue及图”) opposition review case and “JuFengYuan” (“聚豊園”) invalidation case.
Continue Reading Trademark Trends 2021