Tougher rules aim to stop trademark speculators

Abnormal applications hindering businesses and clogging up processing service

In a bid to improve the nation's business environment, the China National Intellectual Property Administration will enforce new regulations on trademark filings to curb applications made out of malice.

The draft has been posted on the CNIPA website, requesting suggestions and opinions from the public until March 14.

The move reflects a shift in policymakers' focus from quantity to quality of intellectual property, said Li Shunde, a senior IP researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Comprised of eight articles, the new regulations target abnormal applications, such as trademark squatting, imitating established brands and filings with no intentions for use in industry or business.

Any organization or individual can inform the CNIPA - which is in charge of handling trademark filings - of an abnormal application, according to the draft.

The regulations, once in effect, will also come as a severe blow to trademark speculators who apply for and stock trademarks for trade.

"The trademarks coming from abnormal applications have seriously disturbed normal businesses that have real needs for trademarks," said Deng Hongguang, a law professor at Southwest University of Political Science and Law.

Their existence prevents normal trademark filings and forces companies to spend heavily in trademark protection, Deng said.

"The new regulations provide a back-to-basics approach to trademark registration," he said. "The disposal of abnormal applications helps to better regulate the market."

The reduction in abnormal applications also helps increase efficiency of the public service and thus slashes the application processing period, he added.

Filers of abnormal applications will be publicized on the CNIPA website and China Intellectual Property News, a Beijing-based newspaper, and face other punishments from authorities, according to the draft.

They will also be blacklisted and exposed via a national credibility information sharing system.

Registered trademarks can be declared null and void if they are obtained by improper means, the draft says.

"The long-awaited regulations draft came as no surprise," Li said. "Such regulations are necessary, especially amid continuous growth in IP filings in China."

The number of trademark applications from the country has topped the world for years, according to statistics from the World Intellectual Property Organization.

Data from the CNIPA show that the inventory of valid domestic trademarks had surpassed 18 million by the end of 2018.

China has improved its IP filings and protection by leaps and bounds, yet poor enforcement has come under fire. The discordance between quantity and quality has yet to be tackled, Li said.

Growing awareness of the issues and the revamp of IP administrative organs contributed to the draft, he added.

"The draft does not only address the chronic problem of abnormal applications but provides an approach to balancing the quantity and quality," he noted. "It is just a start."

wangxin@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 02/21/2019 page17)