trademarks
China Tackles Bad-faith Trademark Registrations
By Ai-Leen Lim, Ashley Zhao | Posted on June 4, 2019
The China National Intellectual Property Administration has published Draft Regulations in an effort to tackle bad-faith trademark applications. In this article, we take a closer look at the (i) Draft Regulations for Regulating the Application for the Registration of Trademarks, (ii) revisions to the PRC Trademark Law (wef November 1, 2019) and (iii) recently issued...
Tags: AIPLA, Bad faith, Beijing Court, china, Guidelines, INTA, regulations, trademark law, trademarks
Beijing High Court rejects Thermos’ appeal in invalidation proceedings
By Ai-Leen Lim | Posted on May 28, 2019
Over a decade ago, a Chinese company filed for the mark TILIR THERMO VOGUE in Class 21 for use on goods including vacuum bottles. Attempts by insulated container manufacturer Thermos to invalidate this mark over the past three years were put to an end by a recent decision from the Beijing High Court. Background In...
Tags: Bad faith, china, Infringement, registration, Thermos, trademark law, trademarks
Rush to register French football star Mbappé’s name highlights China’s rampant trademark squatting problem
By Ai-Leen Lim | Posted on September 7, 2018
The 2018 FIFA World Cup ended with France being victorious and a new star player emerging among the winning team – young footballer Kylian Mbappé Following the 1 July match against Argentina, during which Mbappé scored two goals, a staggering 169 trademark applications were filed as several Chinese companies and individuals applied to trademark his name....
Tags: china, FIFA, Football, Intellectual Property, Mbappé, trademarks, World Cup 2018
‘Soft Brexit’ provides for creation of comparable UK trademarks and designs
By AWA | Posted on August 23, 2018
Owners of existing EU trademarks (EUTM) and designs (RCD) had been left somewhat in the dark about what will happen to their intellectual property rights on 29 March 2019, but The UK Intellectual Property Office is now shedding some light on the situation. Existing EU trademarks and designs will, under the provision that the withdrawal...
Tags: Brexit, Britain, designs, EU, EUTM, Intellectual Property, RCD, trademarks, UK
New trademark legislation determines the conditions for creative brands
By Angela Boman | Posted on October 20, 2017
As of 1 October 2017, new rules for registration of EU trademarks apply. One significant change is the abolishment of the requirement of graphic representation of EU trademarks. In an EU application, the trademark reproduction in any suitable form using publicly available technology will be accepted as long as the EU trademark can be reproduced...
Tags: EU, graphical, IP, law, Legislation, Trademark, trademarks
COVFEFE anyone?
By AWA | Posted on June 5, 2017
On 30 May, Donald Trump tweeted “Despite the constant negative press covfefe” and he started a world-wide buzz of speculations of the meaning of this slightly confusing word. Soon thereafter, Per Holknekt, the founder of the Swedish clothing company Odd Molly International AB, claimed to have the right to the trademark COVFEFE and explained his...
Tags: COVFEFE, Donald Trump, trademarks
Conditions for bad faith in Sweden
By Niclas Dahlberg | Posted on May 10, 2017
The Patent and Market Court has recently in a decision (case PMÄ 15622-16), dated 25 April 2017, ruled that knowledge of someone else’s prior use of a trademark alone does not suffice to constitute bad faith. A Swedish company applied for registration of the trademark “Lyckliga Gatan” for clothes in Class 25. The Opponent filed...
Tags: Bad faith, sweden, trademarks
Damage liability for preliminary injunction
By AWA | Posted on April 4, 2017
New Scandinavian case law clarifies a patent or trademark owner’s liability to pay damages for a wrongfully issued preliminary injunction. Background In Intellectual Property (IP) litigation in the Scandinavian countries, IP owners often try to get so-called ‘preliminary injunctions’ issued against the accused infringer. If granted, a preliminary injunction will allow the IP owner to...
Tags: Denmark, IP, patents, preliminary injunction, sweden, trademarks
A more efficient trademark application process in China? 13 new Trademark Application and Service centers opened.
By AWA | Posted on November 8, 2016
China’s State Administration of Industry and Commerce (SAIC), which also administers the China Trademark Office and all trademark applications in China, is on a reform path and is putting efforts into facilitating trademark registrations across China’s provinces and lower tier cities and spreading the work outside of Beijing. The need for reform is a result...
Tags: Application, awa asia, china, China Trademark Office, SAIC, trademarks
Time for abolishment of basic registrations for international registrations of trademarks?
By Angela Boman | Posted on June 11, 2015
By an application of international registration according to the Madrid system a trademark can be registered in a number of countries and regions in a more time and cost efficient way compared to filing of national applications only. In contrast to international registrations for designs or patents, the Madrid System requires a domestic application or...
Tags: international trademark, Madrid Protocol, trademarks, WIPO
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