China and Madrid trademarks

Color Claims for Trademarks: Avoid

Color claims for trademarks should in general be avoided. To be clear, there are situations when claiming color on a trademark registration application makes sense, but these situations are not common. What’s more, color claims might create issues in the future, if you stop using your trademark exactly as registered. When registering logos and stylized

China domain name scams

China Domain Name Scams

China Domain Name Scams If your company has done anything in China (even just sending someone there to meet with a supplier), you have probably received a somewhat official-looking email offering to “help” you stop someone from taking your domain registry in China or maybe somewhere else in the world. Just about everyone doing business in China

China Trademark Law

China’s Well-Known Trademarks: A Primer

Well-known trademarks enjoy protection under Chinese law. This protection is the closest China comes to protecting unregistered trademarks. However, the circumstances under which such protection is afforded are limited, given that the standard for a trademark being considered well-known is exceedingly high. To illustrate just how stringent the standard can be, consider a situation I

Web3 and blockchain

China (and Other Nations) May Be Winning the Blockchain Race Against the U.S.

I recently read a great article in Politico by Brandon Possin, a U.S. foreign service officer (and friend of my colleague Fred Rocafort) who is currently stationed at the U.S. embassy in Tokyo. Possin also has significant blockchain-related credentials. In U.S. Diplomat to Washington: You’re Becoming Obsolete in One Big Area of Tech Policy, he

International trademark lawyers

Managing Intellectual Property Rights in the U.S. Customs Regulatory Environment

Questions & Answers on Managing Intellectual Property Rights in the U.S. Customs Regulatory Environment   Earlier this year I sat down with the Asociación Interamericana de la Propiedad Intelectual (ASIPI) to discuss what can be done to protect trademarks, copyrights, and patents in the U.S. Customs regulatory environment. The following questions and answers are from

International trademark lawyers

Trademark Oppositions: China vs US

Trademark oppositions are proceedings by which parties can formally request the refusal of another party’s trademark application. They are a feature of the trademark laws of just about every country, including China and the United States. Though trademark oppositions serve the same purpose in both China and the United States, the contexts in which they

China trademark lawyers

WHEN to Apply for a China Trademark

Our International IP lawyers are always preaching how foreign companies must register their trademarks in China if they are going to be doing business in or producing product in China (see, for example, China Trademarks — Do You Feel Lucky? Do You?). And in most cases, companies should register their trademarks in China now. Right

China trademark use requirements

China Trademarks: Use It or Lose It

A trademark registrant in China is not required to use the trademark, but that could soon change. If a draft revision of China’s Trademark Law is adopted, registrants may be required to certify their use of their trademark every five years after registration. We have covered other aspects of the proposed law in Draft Revision

China Lies and spies

China Spying: It’s Everywhere

You have almost certainly heard by now that there is a massive Chinese spy balloon currently hovering over U.S. airspace in violation of international and U.S. law. Or if you actually believe the CCP, it is merely a weather balloon that went very far off course. 1. China’s Spy Balloon Will Worsen China’s Relations with

China Trademark Protection

Bad Faith TM Applicants, Bad News

The China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) has published a draft revision of the country’s Trademark Law and called for comments from the public. In our first post on the potential implications of the revised law for international brands, we looked at proposed changes to the definition of what constitutes a trademark and the absolute