Trademark piracy is not a new affair in the bookish acreage world.
A cogent amount of Chinese corporations, if aggravating to aggrandize into across markets, are award that anyone abroad has pirated their trademarks.
In the 1980s, the brand for the acclaimed Chinese biologic aggregation Tongrentang was pirated in Japan. It took added than 10 years for the Chinese close to balance its trademark.
In 2005, China's television casting Hisense admiring account if the aggregation and Bosch-Siemens acclimatized a brand dispute. Before that, Bosch-Siemens had registered the Hisense brand in the European Union.
In 2006, a Shenzhen aggregation registered added than 170 acclaimed Chinese brands such as LiNing and Xoceco in Hong Kong.
In April this year, a Munich cloister disqualified adjoin OKAI, a German aliment company, in a brand lawsuit. The cloister ordered OKAI to stop anarchic on the brand of Wangzhihe, a acclaimed Chinese aliment brand.
According to some account reports, two individuals in Canada accept activated for the allotment of added than 52 trademarks accompanying to Chinese brands in Canada.
Foreign companies accept continued complained about the piracy of their brands in China, but now things are changing.
According to statistics from the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, about 15 percent of acclaimed Chinese brands accept been abandoned overseas.
More than 80 Chinese trademarks were registered in Indonesia, about 100 in Japan and about 150 in Australia after the approval of the Chinese companies.
If the accompanying Chinese companies ambition to use their trademarks in those across markets, they accept to either change the trademarks or pay royalties to the adopted companies.
With Chinese companies benumbed the beachcomber of across expansion, they are paying accretion absorption to the aegis of their bookish acreage rights in across markets.
In 2005, I conducted a analysis analysis by partnering with some adopted companies to actualize a account of "China's 500 Most Valuable Brands" that was appear by the World Brand Laboratory.
The analysis showed that 46 percent of the Chinese brands had yet to be registered in the United States, 50 percent had yet to be registered in Australia and as about 76 percent had not registered in the European Union.
Moreover, 15 percent of these trademarks were registered by a third affair -- not the accepted buyer in China.
The able-bodied Chinese abridgement and the country's cachet as a apple accomplishment hub accept apparent China-made articles accepting awash everywhere in the world.
Some Chinese brands such as Lenovo, Haier and Huawei are adequate able acceptance in across markets.
And some accept been falling victim to brand piracy.
There are several affidavit why Chinese brands are acceptable the ambition of all-embracing brand piracy.
First, abounding Chinese corporations are not acquainted of the accent of attention their trademarks internationally.
Sometimes the across distributors of Chinese firms annals the Chinese trademarks just because they ambition to be the affairs abettor of the Chinese companies. In that case, it will not be difficult for the Chinese companies to get aback their trademarks.
However, in some cases the adopted companies or individuals annals the Chinese trademarks in a bid to accomplish a profit.
They ambition to either advertise the trademarks or allegation the Chinese companies that ambition to aggrandize to the across markets.
In that case, Chinese companies accept to pay a ample amount to get their trademarks back.
Third, the bounded companies apprehension that Chinese brands accept a top acceptability in a assertive region.
These companies will annals the brands as their own in that region. Under this circumstance, the Chinese aggregation ability accept to change the brand. Changing brands beggarly the Chinese aggregation ability accept absent the bazaar there.
Four, the bounded adversary ability annals the brands to set up an obstacle for Chinese enterprises.
If the adversary wants to exclude the Chinese aggregation from entering a assertive market, again he ability annals the Chinese brand in advance.
Under this circumstance, the Chinese action ability be afar from the accordant bazaar or be affected to coact with the bounded adversary with a adverse acceding -- as was the case for Hisense vs Bosch-Siemens.
(To be connected )
Li Yongbo is a brand advocate with Beijing Unilaten Attorneys at Law.
Editor's note: The IPR Special is sponsored by the State Intellectual Property Office and appear by China Business Weekly. To acquaintance the Intellectual Property Office, the IPR Special hotlines are 8610-64995422 or 8610-64995826, and the e-mail abode is [email protected]
(China Daily 08/31/2009 page9)
