Patent Law Reform
We discussed the second draft of proposed amendments to the People’s Republic of China (“PRC”) Patent Law in our previous blog post here. Since then, on 17 October 2020 the PRC National People’s Congress
China quietly updates its Copyright Law
On 11 November 2020, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress passed the amendments to the China Copyright Law (the Amendments), which will take effect on 1 June 2021. This is the third time the Copyright Law has
More Chinese punitive damages being awarded
Further to the award of punitive damages to Balanced Body (revisit our blog post here), we have seen a string of cases in the first half of 2020 where Chinese judges awarded punitive damages to trade mark owners for
China Releases Draft Patent Law Amendment
On 3rd July 2020, the National People’s Congress (NPC) of the People’s Republic of China released a second draft of proposed amendments to the PRC Patent Law for public consultation. In response to opinions from various government authorities and
Implementation of the Madrid Protocol in Hong Kong
On 19 June 2020 Hong Kong gazetted the Trade Marks (Amendment) Ordinance, paving the way for the application of the Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks (Madrid Protocol) in Hong Kong. This
Singapore leads the way on promoting its IP Hub
The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) made headlines recently when its Chief Executive, Daren Tang, was appointed as the next Director-General of the World Intellectual Property Organisation with effect from 1 October 2020 (see this link for more
New Balance lands a win in China
New Balance, the US sports shoemaker, has had a tough time of it in the PRC IP courts over the last twenty years, in particular against Niu Ba Lun (China) Co., Ltd. and its predecessors (New Barlun), a
Could the use of Punitive Damages be the way forward in China?
In September 2019, the Shanghai Pudong District People’s Court awarded triple punitive damages to Balanced Body Inc., which according to the Shanghai government news report was the first such award for a Shanghai Court to a foreign plaintiff.
Background
Balanced
Amendment to Chinese Trade Mark Law on bad faith trade mark applications with no intention to use
Complaints regarding the growth of bad faith trade mark applications in China have been raised for a while now. The existing Trade Mark Law in China does not readily imply bad faith on trade mark applicants with no genuine intention
China public consultation on Draft Regulations addressing bad faith trademark applications
Chinese squatters can easily file applications for trademarks which are identical or similar to foreign brands.