[Jian Xu] Chinese character trade marks

As the Chinese economy continues to grow fast, so does the number of foreign businesses trying to secure their place in the Chinese market. The more sophisticated those foreign businesses are, the more sophisticated their ability to protect their intellectual property rights. Or so you might think. There have been quite a number of high-profile disputes in the Chinese courts which have proved to be extremely damaging to various universally known brands. These cases concern the registration of Chinese language and Chinese character trade marks, translated from the English or European language trademarks of various international brands, such as Viagra, Hermès, Land Rover, and even the name of Michael Jordan.

The message to international businesses is, of course, to pay the utmost attention to the protection of their brands and to ensure that they are one step ahead of any potential trade mark exploitation. China operates a “first to file” trade mark system and to succeed in voiding a trade mark, it is often necessary to prove that the initial application was made in bad faith. This can, of course, be costly, time consuming and as some brand owners found, in some cases impossible. Commercially, the Chinese version of the western brand can be equally popular, if not more, as the original western brand in China. Brand owners are thus advised to pay great attention to the Chinese language trade mark of its brand when operating in the Chinese market.