Legal updates and opinions
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
Strike action in circumstances where there has been a long delay between the issuing of a certificate of outcome and the subsequent election to embark on a strike
PRASA t/a Metrorail v SATAWU and Others (C190/2016) ISSUE Whether a strike is protected in circumstances where there has [...]
Is length of service reason to pay different salaries to employees performing the same functions?
Pioneer Foods (Pty) Ltd v Workers Against Regression (WAR) & others ISSUE Whether length of service is a [...]
Is a trade union entitled to organisational rights in terms of the LRA after acquiring majority representation at a single branch?
Professional Transport and Allied Workers Union obo members / Professional Aviation Services [2016] 4 BALR 421 ISSUE Whether a [...]
Asset for share transactions – beware of selling your shares within 18 months especially in the context of a share buy-back
To prevent tax considerations from discouraging the incorporation of a business, a specific form of ‘rollover relief’ is available when an asset [...]
A new era dawns – criminalisation of cartel conduct
On 22 April 2016, a Presidential Proclamation (“Proclamation”) appeared in the Government Gazette which confirmed that the provisions contained in [...]
The employer’s responsibility during the transfer of an employee
Senne and others v Fleet Africa [2016] ZALCJHB 48 ISSUE One of the automatic consequences of a transfer in [...]
