Beijing courts take steps to protect IP

Beijing courts said they would intensify efforts to protect intellectual property rights, especially trademarks, after a rise of IP-related cases over the past year.

In 2018 courts across the capital filed 59,094 IP civil and administrative disputes, up 43 percent year-on-year according to statistics released by the Beijing High People's Court on Wednesday.

"Of the total, several were new-type cases or those rarely appearing in previous IP case hearings, which brought challenges to our work," said Yang Boyong, chief judge of the court's No 3 Civil Division.

Last year, for example, Beijing IP Court handled a trademark dispute about "DiDiDiDiDiDi" between Tencent Technology and the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce.

It is the country's first case concerning sound trademarks. After the hearing, the IP court gave a verdict in favor of Tencent, ruling that the sound "DiDiDiDiDiDi" designed by the company could be registered as a trademark to use.

"It could be a new step for us in identifying trademarks and protecting trademark rights," Yang said.

To more effectively safeguard trademarks, the Beijing High People's Court also issued a guideline on hearing trademark-related civil and administrative cases on Wednesday.

The guideline aims to push administrations to improve efficiency in reviewing trademarks and gives more protection to legitimate trademarks by preventing people who register trademarks with "malicious intent".

In recent years, the practice by some individuals and companies to register popular names as trademarks has disrupted the market and eroded trust according to Pan Wei, a judicial official of the high people's court.

What the registrants want is to gain profit by transferring registered trademarks at a high price or ask for compensation, she said.

"To encourage trust in business and keep the market in order, the guideline clarifies registrants who cannot give a clear explanation on the use of their registered trademarks will face restrictions," she added.

Yang said Beijing courts would further protect technological innovations by improving quality of case hearings, and increase communication with IP-related administrations by holding seminars and conducting research.

"In addition, we'll regulate behaviors of governmental departments in handling IP-related affairs by sending them judicial suggestions in a timely manner to better guide them in IP protection," he added.