When applying to register trademarks in China, it is not uncommon for brands to have their applications denied because of a similar trademark that has a prior right. This prior right may be an existing registration, or a pending application to register that was filed at an earlier date than yours. What to do if your brand finds itself in that situation?
A number of Chinese trademark law firms have of late been trying to drum up American clients on China trademark matters. I say this because my firm's China trademark lawyers have been getting a steady stream of emails from U.S. lawyers and companies contacted by these Chinese trademark law firms. The Chinese law firms are writing to U.S. lawyers and companies to alert them of trademark filings in China of the same trademarks owned by the company in the United States. These emails from the Chinese trademark attorneys to U.S. trademark attorneys usually go as follows:
Copyright owners can notify online service providers about infringing material The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) establishes a process whereby copyright owners can notify online service providers such as Amazon about infringing material and request that it be taken down. Such infringing material can include product images, logos (which may be eligible for trademark protection),
Ownership of copyright by nonhumans is not allowed in China, but increasing AI capabilities could spur changes in legal thinking.
With no explicit provisions in China's copyright law for the protection of works of applied art, courts have until now used different approaches when considering the issue. In some cases, protection has been extended based on the protections afforded to works of fine art. However, in last year's Guiding Case No. 157 (指导案例157号), the Supreme People's Court (SPC) endorsed the view that works of applied art are entitled to copyright protection in their own right.
Last week, I wrote about how Chinese companies use fake investment scams to trick foreign companies into turning over their IP. This post goes into additional detail regarding the China fake investment scam, but it also goes beyond it to ecompass the various IP theft scams our China lawyers have been seeing in the last couple of years.
One of the more sophisticated and costly scams we see is what we call the "investing in your business to steal your IP scam." We see this scam maybe 4-5 times a year, mostly before they happen and mostly before the company realizes a scam is about to take place.
This post sets out the four most important steps you should take to protect your IP from China. These steps will minimize the likelihood of you having a China IP problem and maximize your chances of prevailing should such a problem actually arise.
This post explains how to protect your product from China when having your product made in China. One of the first things our international manufacturing lawyers do when working with a company having products made in China is to figure out the contracts and IP registrations that will ensure our client's intellectual property and other rights will be protected against its Chinese manufacturer and the rest of the world.
International Manufacturing Turmoil Increases International Manufacturing Risks With the increasing risks of manufacturing in China, our international manufacturing lawyers are being contacted by many companies seeking legal help after all has been lost. These are mostly companies that moved their manufacturing to "bad" Chinese manufacturers or to other countries in an effort to reduce their
