Brand Wars: China Steps Up Against Trademark Squatters

For the past four decades foreign companies have been confronted with Chinese trademark squatting. Trademark squatting, in which someone else registers your trademark, suddenly prevents you from using your brand in China. Causing massive headaches every year, foreign companies are often left with little choice but to cough up huge sums to buy back the trademark, rebrand their product or fight for the right to use the brand through lengthy legal battles.

But has all this changed with the latest amendment to China’s Trademark Law? Since the end of 2019, the amended law was introduced to prevent trademark squatting with bad intentions.

Join Ai-Leen Lim, CEO and Principal Counsel, AWA Asia, for this webinar exploring how the bad-faith principle is being applied by the administrative authorities and the courts in practice since it entered law.

You will leave this webinar with a better understanding of the great strides the world’s most populous nation has made in combatting trademark squatting and how you can take advantage of the bad-faith principle.

In addition to answering questions throughout the webinar, Ai-Leen and Ashley will touch upon:

• What is necessary to fulfill the requirement of “bad faith” in the battle against squatters
• Greater transparency of opposition and invalidation decisions
• How China’s four IP Courts are applying additional guidelines
• How brand owners should handle multiple proceedings in China (concurrent judicial and administrative proceedings)
• Best practice tips to design the ultimate China trademark strategy
• Latest updates affecting the trademark regime in China (standardising and fast track examination).

Ai-Leen Lim, CEO and Principal Counsel, AWA Asia

Ai-Leen Lim leads AWA’s Asia practice as CEO and Principal Counsel, managing its headquarters in Hong Kong and its wholly owned Chinese IP consultancy in Beijing. She is admitted as an advocate and solicitor in Singapore and is qualified to practise in Hong Kong and the United Kingdom. For more than 23 years she has advised clients on IP portfolio management in China, in Hong Kong and internationally, with a special focus on China market entry, brand management and IP strategy. Ai-Leen has been consistently recognised for her work through rankings and awards from leading industry publications including Chambers and Partners, The Legal 500, World Trademark Review and Managing IP. Most recently she was listed as a WTR Global Leader 2020 by World Trademark Review.

Where: Webinar, a link will sent to all registered participants one day ahead of the event.

When: Tuesday, May 24, 2022, at 09:00 – 10:00 CEST (Re-scheduled from April 8, 2022)

Cost: SCTC Members free of charge. Non-Members SEK350 plus VAT. Not a member yet? Apply here!

A Warm Welcome!