On April 23, 2019, the Tenth Session of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress passed a decision to amend the Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China. The detailed content of the amendment to the "Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China" is listed below for reference. The words in red letter refer to the amended or added contents.
1. Article 4 paragraph 1:
“Where any natural person, legal entity or other organization, in the course of his or its production or business operations, intends to acquire the exclusive right to use a trademark for his or its goods or services, an application should be filed with the Trademark Office for registration of the goods trademark. Applications for trademark registrations in bad faith which are not intended for use shall be refused.”
2. Article 19 paragraph 3:
“Trademark agency is forbidden to represent the client where it knows or should know the trademark to be filed for registration by such client falls under the circumstances prescribed in Article 4, Article 15 and Article 32 of this Law.”
3. Article 33:
The prior right owner or any interested party may, within three months from the date of publication, files an opposition against an accepted and published application for registration of a trademark, if he finds that the application stands in violation of the provisions of Article 13, paragraph two or three, Article 15, Article 16, paragraph one, Article 30, Article 31, Article 32 of this law, or any person finds that the application stands in violation with the provisions of Article 4, Article 10, Article 11, Article 12, Article 19 paragraph four of this law. If no opposition is filed within the specified period, the trademark shall be registered, a certificate of registration shall be issued, and the registration shall be published.
4. Article 44 paragraph 1:
Where a registered trademark stands in violation of the provisions of Article 4, Article 10, Article 11, Article 12, Article 19 paragraph four of this Law, or the registration of a trademark has been acquired by fraud or any other unfair means, the Trademark Office shall declare the registered trademark invalid; any other organization or individual may request the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board to declare such a registered trademark invalid.
5. Article 63:
The amount of damage for infringement of the exclusive right to use a registered trademark shall be assessed on the basis of the actual losses suffered by the right holder because of the infringement; where it is difficult to determine the actual losses, the amount may be assessed on the basis of the profits the infringer has earned because of the infringement. Where it is difficult to determine the losses the right holder has suffered or the profits the infringer has earned, the amount may be assessed by reference to the appropriate multiple of the amount of using the registered trademark under a contractual license. Where the infringement of the exclusive right to use a registered trademark is committed in bad faith and the circumstance is serious, the amount of damage shall be more than one time but less than five times of the amount assessed by referring to the above calculation. The amount of the damage shall also include the reasonable expenses of the right holder incurred for stopping the infringing act.
When the right holder has tried his best to provide the evidence, but account books and materials relating to the infringement act are mainly under the control of the infringer, to determine the amount of damage, the People’s court may order the infringer to provide the account books, materials relating to the infringement act. Where the infringer refuses to provide or provides false account books and materials, the People’s court may determine the amount of damage by reference to the claim and evidences provided by the right holder.
Where it is difficult to determine the losses suffered by the right holder, the profits the infringer has earned and the fees of licensing a registered trademark, the People’s court shall grant a compensation not exceeding RMB5,000,000 yuan, according to the circumstances of the act of infringement.
In examining trademark dispute cases, the people's court shall, at the request of the rights holder, order the destruction of commodities bearing counterfeit registered trademarks, except in special circumstances; order the destruction of materials and tools mainly used to manufacture commodities bearing counterfeit registered trademarks, without compensation; or, in special circumstances, order the prohibition of the aforementioned materials and tools from entering commercial channels, without compensation.
Commodities bearing counterfeit registered trademarks shall not enter commercial channels after only removing counterfeit registered trademarks.
6. Article 68 paragraph one item three:
(3) To violate the provisions of Article 4, Article 19 paragraph three or four.
(4) To file trademark application for registration in bad faith, which shall be imposed, according to circumstances, administrative penalties such as a warning or a fine; to file trademark lawsuit in bad faith, which shall be imposed punishment according to law by the people’s court.
It can be seen that the Amendments to the Trademark Law involve six Articles in total, the purpose of which is to more effectively crack down on malicious applications that are not for use purpose, and to impose more powerful penalties on trademark infringements in order to create more optimized convenience, fair market atmosphere and business environment.
