Legal updates and opinions
Post Author
News / News
Amendments To China’s Trade Mark Laws
By Donvay Wegierski, Director
In April 2019 it was announced that certain Amendments to China’s Trade Mark law will come into effect on 1 November 2019 including:
- Increasing the content against bad-faith registration for the purpose of regulating the acts of bad-faith applications and hoarding registrations otherwise known as “trade mark squatters”.
- Reinforcing the penalties for trade mark infringement.
During the course of 2018 seven million trade mark applications were filed in China with over eighteen million trade marks on the Chinese register belonging to Chinese nationals. The vast number of trade marks filed are indicative of many which are filed and retained in bad faith preventing the rightful proprietors from doing so.
The amendments will introduce measures for the Chinese Trade Mark office to refuse trade mark applications filed in bad faith which are not intended for use and and will no doubt be welcomed by brand owners worldwide. Trade mark proprietors may also include “bad faith registration / not for use” as a basis in trade mark oppositions and invalidations.
If you would like to learn more about Intellectual Property please visit our practice area page.
Latest News
Nxele v Chairperson of the Disciplinary Hearing: Mudau NO and others, [2026] 6 BLLR 628 (LC): Clarifying the operation of section 188A(11) of the Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995
by Bankey Sono, Director and Sandile Mogweng, Candidate Attorney The Labour Court in Nxele v Chairperson of the Disciplinary Hearing: [...]
No grout about it: The LAC cements section 197 principles
by Bradley Workman-Davies, Director Section 197 of the Labour Relations Act has long been one of the most misunderstood and [...]
Making sense of death: A brief overview of inquest proceedings
by Dakalo Singo, Director and Head of Pro Bono By its very nature, death is tragic. The death of a [...]
Is cryptocurrency ‘capital’? Taking the Mangundhla judgment under the loop
by Deon Griessel, Director 1. Introduction Two Gauteng Division judgements have reached diametrically opposite conclusions on the question as to [...]
Agonists and APIs: High Court Injects Clarity into Compounding Debate
by Neil Kirby, Director and Head of Healthcare & Life Sciences and Slade van Rooyen, Associate The practice of compounding [...]
Minority shareholders and disposals of “controlling interests”: The limits of Section 11 of the MPRDA
by Chris Stevens, Director and Head of Mining & Resources, Kyra South, Director and Sandile Shongwe, Senior Associate Given that [...]
