| Seminar and workshop on the Legal Protection of Well-known Trademarks |
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7-8 September 2008, Shanghai
This seminar and subsequent workshop resulted in a constructive exchange of ideas, questions and opinions between judges, academics and members of industry which will in the longer-term help to reinforce the capacity of both sides to handle and adjudicate IP cases.
For more information on the seminar and workshop, contact Mr Benoit Misonne This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . For general information on IPR2, contact Ms Tamryn Barker This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . [IPR2 ref. CC1.IPA.002] |
The EU-China IPR2 Project supported the 
The identification of well-known trademarks in China is quite different from practice in other countries. Protection is given to well-known marks belonging to a number of Chinese and foreign rights holders based on various factors such as public awareness of mark, length of use, duration and geographical scope of advertising and recognition in other regions. However, as yet there is no specific standard against which a trademark is judged to be well-known. This seminar and the workshop that followed used practical cases when defining well-known trademarks, cases of jurisprudence on the confirmation or rejection of well-known trademarks and the existing dual-approach in China (judicial and administrative). 
The speakers included judges from Supreme Court of Ireland and SPC, IP Tribunal of Beijing Higher People’s Court, Shanghai Second Intermediate People’s Court, IP Tribunal of Fujian Higher People’s Court, IP Tribunal of Hunan Higher People’s Court; experts from EC Delegation, Quality Brands Protection Committee of CAEFI (QPBC), 
Owners of well-known marks have a number of advantages over their regular mark-owning rivals: essentially by preventing malicious registration and use of the mark for the same class of goods or services, as well as for non-similar goods or services if their mark is registered. In China, the protection of well-known marks started when China acceded to the Paris Convention in 1985. Since 1 December 2001 China has had domestic legislation on well-known trademarks. The Regulations on the Implementation of the Trademark Law and Provisions for the Establishment and Protection of Well-known Trademarks, along SPC judicial interpretations now offer further clarification about the nature of the protection that Chinese law offers to well-known trademarks.
The CTMO, the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board (TRAB) and the courts all have the power to identify well-known trademarks, whereas in most other countries, only courts have the authority to declare a mark well known on a case-by-case basis. Both Higher and Intermediate People's Courts have the right to identify well-known trademarks during dispute cases at the request of one of the parties concerned. From July 2001 to October 2005, the courts confirmed 71 trademarks as well-known. 
The seminar was opened by the Hon. Judge Kong Xiangjun, Vice Director of the IP Tribunal of the Supreme People’s Court of PR China. A series of panel sessions covered the following topics:
The workshop was chaired by the Hon. Chief Judge Kong and the Hon. Ms. Justice Macken and provided an opportunity for questions and answers between the SPC judges and the visiting experts on the following topics: