How do foreign companies protect trademarks in ...
When foreign enterprises enter the Chinese market, they should lay out their trademark strategy in advance and ask professional lawyers for assistance if necessary.(1) Apply for trademark registration as soon as possible.The scope of coverage should be comprehensive.In addition to covering the most core commodities and services, peripheral products,accessory products and additional services should also be included in the scope of defense registration for all-round protection.To apply for the registration of Chinese trademarks, use Chinese trademarks at the same time if possible, and apply for the registration of Chinese appellation of trademarks in foreign language used by media and users.(2)Actively defend rights and formulate strategies, exercise their rights promptly and exhaust all remedies, such as objections and invalid declarations.In some cases, it is far more feasible to apply the identification of similar goods and services in current Chinese Trademark Law than to apply cross-class protection of well-known trademarks in current Chinese Trademark Law.(3) Evidence collection should be comprehensive.Retain and collect evidence of the use and popularity of the rights owner’s logo in order to deal with the disputes related to trademark infringers, malicious preemptive registrant, etc.
Trademark Law of China stipulates that the trademarks approved by the Trademark Office are registered trademarks, including commodity trademarks, service trademarks, collective trademarks, and certification trademarks; the trademark registrant shall enjoy the exclusive right to use a trademark and shall be protected by law.China’s trademark system is mainly based on the protection of registration, supplemented by the protection obtained from exploitation which requires a lot of evidence to prove.China has special regulations on foreign entities applying for trademarks in China: (1) If a foreigner or a foreign enterprise applies for trademark registration in China, it shall be handled in accordance with the agreement signed between the country to which the subject belongs and the People’s Republic of China or the provisions of international treaties to which the above-mentioned countries have joined, or on the principle of reciprocity.(2) If a foreigner or a foreign enterprise applies for trademark registration and deals with other trademark matters in China, it shall entrust a trademark agency established according to law to handle the matter.(https://www.daowen.com)
At present, there are two ways for foreign enterprises to obtain the protections of their trademarks in China through registration-the Madrid registration and the domestic trademark registration.In the former case, the applicant submits an application to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) through the domestic trademark authority through the Madrid system, and designates China to apply for territorial extension protection; while in the latter case, an application is submitted directly to the State Intellectual Property Office of China through a foreign trademark agency in China.If both of them pass the examination of the State Intellectual Property Office and are deemed to be eligible for registration, the trademarks will obtain legal protection in China.