Matthew Dresden Asks: Does China Have Too Many Trademarks?

At the China Law Blog, Matthew Dresden, a partner at the law firm of Harris Bricken, asks "Does China Have Too Many Trademarks?"

Dresden analyzes some of the factors that have led to a dramatic increase in the number of registered trademarks in the People's Republic over the last several years. He notes:

This all adds up to an increasingly inhospitable environment for filing trademark applications in China. Every new trademark application is another potential conflict for subsequently filed applications. Our China trademark team has seen an uptick in rejections in our day-to-day work, and though it’s hard to prove causation it sure doesn’t feel like a coincidence.

To make things even more complicated, there’s a disjunction between the standard for trademark infringement and the standard for trademark registration, with the latter being considerably more strict. That has led to a number of trademarks that are in a strange sort of limbo: too similar to existing marks to be registered, but not so similar as to constitute infringement were they to be used. This effectively places such trademarks in the public domain. If a company’s goal is simply to manufacture products in China without fear of someone else interfering with production or exports, all is well. But if the goal is establish a brand name in China, the only answer is to find a new brand name.
 

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