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
Do not call me I’ll call you …… South Africa’s 2026 CPA Amendment Regulations: operationalising the national opt‑out regime for direct marketing and shifting day‑to‑day anti‑spam responsibility to the National Consumer Commission
by Ahmore Burger-Smidt, Director and Head of Regulatory The Consumer Protection Act Amendment Regulations, 2026 deliver the long‑awaited operational framework [...]
Business Rescue Applications Under Scrutiny: business rescue orders are not there for the taking!
by Eric Levenstein, Director and Head Insolvency & Business Rescue and Amy Mackechnie, Senior Associate This article considers the recent decision in [...]
The AI Arms Race and what it means for Competition Law: A new era or new focus
by Ahmore Burger-Smidt, Director and Head of Regulatory We are not in the habit of writing breathless technology briefings. That [...]
The AI Governance Stack and South Africa’s Draft National AI Policy: An Operational Gap in Search of a Framework
by Ahmore Burger-Smidt, Director and Head of Regulatory Author's Note I am presently reading Noah M Kenney's Governing Intelligence: Law, [...]
Speak now or forever hold your peace. The draft AI policy has been published and parties have 60 days to comment
by Ahmore Burger-Smidt, Director and Head of Regulatory On 10 April 2026, South Africa's Department of Communications and Digital Technologies [...]
Cracking Down or Catching Up? South Africa’s Approach to Crypto Regulation: Part 4 – Exchange Control Update
by Deon Griessel, Director, Armand Swart, Director, Hlonelwa Lutuli, Associate and Khanyisa Tshoba, Associate In our previous article published on [...]
