72 marks Are Recognized as “Well-known Trademark” by Chinese Courts

April 10, 2006
The Chinese Supreme People’s Court spokesman, Mr. Huapu Sun announced that, from July 2001 to October 2005, there are 72 marks being recognized as “Well-known Trademark” by the Chinese people’s courts at all levels including “Huaneng（华能）”, “Gome（国美电器）” and “Qizheng（奇正）”, etc. There are 42 marks being recognized as “Well-known Trademark” from January to October in 2005, among which there are nine owned by foreign companies.

Mr. Huapu Sun said “ No matter which mark is registered by Chinese or foreigner, the people’s courts will deal with it equally in the recognizing procedure and protect well-known trademarks and the rights and interests of both Chinese and foreigners”.

It is reported that in 2005 the people’s court have heard 3567 criminal cases in the first instance involving IP infringements and concluded 3529 cases, with a big increase over last year. 5319 people were charged on criminal penalty and 2936 of them were sentenced for a set term of imprisonment. The IP infringement cases in the first instance were heard in Guangdong, Beijing, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong and Shanghai accounting for 65.38% of national total amount. In general, those IP civil cases nationwide appear to be unbalanced geographically with the increasing compensation.

　

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