Overview (Program Summary)
In the beginning of this year 2023, the China trademark office, now known as âChina National Intellectual Property Administration,â released a draft of amendments on China trademark law which provide some drastic changes targeted at solving bad-faith filing issues. In addition, in the past 2 or 3 years after the implementation of the current Trademark Law (2019) by adding Article 4 prohibiting bad-faith filings with no real intent to use, not only trademark squatters but also many brand owners have received refusals based on Article 4 trademark applications, in particular the brand owners' defensive filing program. Considering such new practices may cause some frustration to brand owners in their brand protection in China, the presentation will share thoughts about the recent changes in practice and potential legislative changes and offer suggestions on the best practices around Article 4 refusals in China.
Speaker: Shuang Yu, Counsel, Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP