Watermark

Achieving trade mark protection in China may soon be a faster process.

China’s leaders in the State Council are considering making amendments to the country’s Trademark Law, with the aim of shortening the process of achieving trade mark registration. It may also introduce changes aimed at reducing the period of time required to resolve dispute settlement matters, a process that currently involves a lengthy five-step procedure.

China first introduced the Trademark Law in 1983 with amendments made in 1993 and 2001. Despite those changes, the trade mark processes remain lengthy. However it is hoped that the proposed changes will improve efficiency.

The number of trade mark applications received by the China Trademarks Office has been increasing steadily since the introduction of the Trademark Law in 1983. In 2006, the number of applications filed rose significantly to 996,000, an increase of over 25%. A result of this increase is that there is an extended delay between the filing and examination of applications. This means that achieving trade mark registration in China can take several years.

It is hoped that the proposed amendments could reduce the time taken to achieve registration. For example, one suggested change is to allow multi-class applications which would reduce the number of applications requiring examination.

It is hoped that the new legislation will be approved by the end of 2007.
Hanna Southern