For the past four decades foreign companies have been confronted with Chinese trademark squatting. Trademark squatting, in which someone else registers your trademark, suddenly prevents you from using your brand in China. Causing massive headaches every year, foreign companies are often left with little choice but to cough up huge sums to buy back the trademark, rebrand their product or…
Trademark opposition proceedings provide trademark owners a relatively quick means to challenge the trademark application of another prior the challenged application being granted. Meanwhile, a cancellation proceeding offers a trademark owner a procedural mechanism to challenge an issued trademark at the Intellectual Property Office rather than in court. Different timelines, grounds for challenge, standards of proof, and appeals rules apply…
Insufficient patent protection and enforcement in China has been a long-standing frustration not just for international but also domestic rights holders. After several rounds of revisions and years in the making – the revised PRC Patent Law entered into force on June 1, 2021. The fourth amendments bring substantial changes including the creation of a patent linkage system, introduces an…
Trademarks are a universal phenomenon and have existed for almost as long as trade itself. Identification symbols that worked as early trademarks have been found on the goods that were traded dating back to as early as 4000 years ago. Although found in virtually every legal system around the world, trademarks are based on national law. Having a trademark in…
Generally speaking, patents last for 20 years from the filing date of the first patent application. While 20 years seems like a long term of protection, many years can be eaten up during patent examination proceedings. An even larger number of years can waste away as the result of the regulatory approval processes, particularly medicinal products (both human and veterinary)…