Tag Archives: trademark

TESLA Gets Control over TESLA’s Trademark in China

Last August (2013), the arguably well-known trademark of TESLA between TESLA’s CEO Elon Musk and businessman Zhan Baosheng was in full swing, read here. August 7 2014, China Daily reports that the TESLA trademark dispute has been resolved, read here. There are no … Continue reading

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Well-known Trademark in China (2014): No Longer Unknown, But Still Unloved?

    By Danny Friedmann   The Third Amendment to the Trademark Law, which, together with the revised Trademark Regulations, came into effect May 1st, 2014, in combination with the Well-known Trademark Recognition and Protection Regulations stipulated by the State Administration … Continue reading

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Prof. Mercurio: In Analyzing IPR in China One Should Distinguish Between Trademark, Copyright and Patent Law

Professor Bryan Mercurio, specialist in international economic law, with particular expertise in WTO law, free trade agreements and the intersection between international trade and intellectual property law and Associate Dean of Chinese University of Hong Kong, has written an interesting … Continue reading

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Rouse: IP China Express 340

” IP in China, dusk or dawn?” Photo: Danny Friedmann In the 340th IP China Express Rouse, the international IP business selected the following news items: – Rubber products manufacturer Freudenberg victorious in a trademark conflict that has been going … Continue reading

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Bizarre Chinese Brand Approved By Pro-Life and Pro-Choice

Sometimes it is better to avoid literal translations. This might be an example:  金 jīn 胚 pēi 玉 yù 米 mǐ 油 yóu = gold embryo corn oil. The association with embryos, even if they are golden, and corn oil, is probably not the most conducive to whet … Continue reading

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TGIF: Vacuum Cleaner Inventor Says The Darndest Things

Thank goodness it is Friday Sir James Dyson was quoted by Dan Milmo in the Guardian, here, saying: “They are running the risk of being expelled from the WTO. They are creating an unlevel playing field by taking our technology and … Continue reading

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Must Read Monday: China Should Change Its Perspective From Engineer To Marketeer

From an engineer’s to a marketeer’s perspective, one bridge too far?Photo: Danny Friedmann Malcolm Moore wrote a great article for The Telegraph about China’s challenges to transform its industries from the world’s manufacturers to the world’s innovators, and how this … Continue reading

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Trademarks That “Innovate and Beautify Life”: China Trademark Festival, Chengdu

“Dreaming of innovative and beautifying trademarks“Photo: Danny Friedmann                  To avoid confusion:                  – the cat’s name is Puma not IP Kat             … Continue reading

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Rouse: IP China Express 340

” IP in China, dusk or dawn?“Photo: Danny Friedmann In the 340th IP China Express Rouse, the international IP business selected the following news items: – Rubber products manufacturer Freudenberg victorious in a trademark conflict that has been going on … Continue reading

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China’s Supreme People’s Court Will Tell You How Safe Safe Harbours Are

Photo RnechesMain entrance Supreme People’s Court Beijing The writers versus Baidu case triggered the Supreme People’s Court to draft a judicial interpretation of online copyright, and can be expected this year. A refinement of the Regulation on Protection to Network Dissemination … Continue reading

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Unoriginal trademarks unpopular in Quanzhou. Good news or wishful thinking?

Hao Nan of China Daily wrote about the trade at the Quanzhou Trademark Trade Center in Fujian that almost dried up. Read here. Why did not Adam Smith’s invisible hand work? Was the invisible hand here invisible, to quote Joseph Stiglitz, because … Continue reading

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Copied Gun Manufacturer Starts Campaign Against Manufacturers of Copied Copied Guns

MadBull Airsoft launched Operation Copycat’, a campaign against counterfeit and cloned airsoft (in between real and toy) guns, read here. “The enforcement of intellectual properties of gun manufacturers and gear makers in airsoft has been ongoing for sometime now. We … Continue reading

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More Chinese Trademarks More Vehicles of Innovation = More Innovation?

China Hearsay’s Stan Abrams takes a critical look at statistics about trademark registrations in China. He is rightly filleting the alleged relationship between increased trademark registrations and a growing awareness of trademark protection among Chinese entreprises, read more here. However … Continue reading

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Is It a Plane? Is It a Bird? No It is the Bleagle! Made in China

Stan Abrams of the China Hearsay (which has been totally upgraded) reports straing from the INTA in Boston about … Geely’s Gleagle. Mr Abrams is giving his always entertaining thoughts about trademarks that consist of made-up words. Read more here.

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Madrid, A Bit Chilly For China’s International Trademark Filings

China’s international trademark filings under World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)’s Madrid System for the Registration of Marks decreased from 1,585 in 2008 to 1,358 in 2009 (-14.3 percent). China is still the most designated country, with 14.766 in 2009, which … Continue reading

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IPR Jurisdiction: Third Civil Division of Haining Municipal People’s Court Specialises in Copyright and Trademark Disputes

Haining Municipal People’s Court in Zhejiang Province set up the Third Civil Division, specializing the trial of civil cases concerning copyright disputes, trademark disputes and other related types of intellectual property rights disputes. Read the article here. First instance IP … Continue reading

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Giorgio Armani Not Amused By Giormani of Hong Kong

IP Dragon was strolling in Sha Tin (沙田), minding his own business, until he came across a Giormani shop. Was Giorgio Armani saving costs by using less lettering on the billboards? Italian designer Giorgio Armani, who built the vast Emporio … Continue reading

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Starbucks Is Coming From Venus, Copycats from St. Mars

Jamon Yerger is founder of Southern Perspective Shenzhen (“China Law Reference, doing it right the first time”), a consulting company in the bustling city of Shenzhen that provides advice on a range of business functions; the majority of which deal … Continue reading

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Professor David Llewlyn Explained All IPRs in One Hour

IP Dragon was attending yesterday evening the very inspiring lecture of Professor David Llewelyn at the University of Hong Kong, about the importance of intellectual property rights for not only experts, but everybody. Professor Llewelyn made clear that the lecture … Continue reading

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Is Coffee-Mate a Generic Term for Coffee?

Stan Abrams over at China Hearsay is posing a question mark whether Coffee-Mate in Chinese is a generic term and therefore diluting the trademark of Nestlé. See the China Hearsay article which is not devoid of humour here.

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Taylor Wessing Global Intellectual Property Index and China: The Last Shall Be The First

The People’s Republic of China was ranked last (24th position) in the Taylor Wessing Global Intellectual Property Index 2009, see here. The methodology of the GIPI rating is a calculation by a factor assessment model with jurisdiction assessments and instrumental … Continue reading

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Google Will Continue To Investigate Trademarks as Keywords in China, Hong Kong and Macau

Imagine that your competitor can advertise with your name using Google AdWords. This nightmare can come true in the following jurisdictions: ‘Regions for Which Google will not investigate the use of trademarks as keywords‘. So far the People’s Republic of China, … Continue reading

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Japan Sake Brewers’ Hangover After Chinese Trademark Squatting

Japanese sake and shochu brewers that want to start exporting to China were not amused when they found out that their brands have been registered by Chinese trademark squatters, that want to sell the trademarks to the Japanese brewers, especially … Continue reading

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Hong Kong’s Top e-filers of Patent, Trademark and Design Right Applications

According to the Intellectual Property Department (IPD) of the Hong Kong Government the top e-filers of all e-transactions in 2008 were: Ranking Firms 1 UNDISCLOSED 2 DEACONS 3 WILKINSON & GRIST 4 JSM 5 BAKER & MCKENZIE 6 SIT, FUNG, … Continue reading

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Face Saving Cultures Don’t Like to Make An Apology

Mr Piter de Weerd, editor of Boek9.nl (Dutch) Book9.nl (English), the excellent blog about intellectual property rights in the Netherlands, pointed me to the article ofSeattle Trademark Lawyer Mr Michael Atkins, who was startled about the remedies Japan’s cosmetic giant … Continue reading

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Alibaba and the IP Thieves; Domain Name, Trademark and Copyright Disputes

Cherry Zhang of Pacific Epoch wrote:“Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba is in a trademark war with Beijing-based software company Beijing Zhengpu Technology to register the “Alibaba” name in China, reports Sohu. Alibaba originally applied for the trademark from China’s State Administration … Continue reading

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TGIF: Satire Lashes Out At China’s Olympic Logo

Thank goodness it’s Friday again! Brand owners are not always pleased with the way other people use/abuse their logo in the name of satire. With the following cartoon I am sure the Chinese government and the Chinese Olympics Committee will … Continue reading

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Warning:Drunkeness Or IP Infringement Can Cause Severe Spelling Problems

Grupo Modelo, the Mexican brewer of Corona beer probably sobered up when it discovered 24 million bottles of Chinese Cerono beer. Jeremy Phillips of IP Kat reports the story here.

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Santa Barbara Polo and Racquet Club Too Similar to Beverly Hills Polo Club for a Trademark

Beijing Nr. 1 Intermediate People’s Court confirmed the rejection of the Trade Review and Adjudication Board (TRAB) of the application of Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club for a trademark. “[A]lthough the two trademarks had slight differences in English words, … Continue reading

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