Expanding Connectivity and Communication Efforts Across China

INTA’s goals in China are twofold: (1) provide international brand owners with the tools to understand China’s dynamic trademark policy landscape, and (2) bring best practices for burgeoning and established Chinese brands to succeed on the global stage. Recently, the Association has been pleased to further build these lines of communications and connectivity inside and outside China.

Engaging Chinese Officials at the Annual Meeting
The 2018 Annual Meeting continued to expand the opportunities for INTA members to hear from and interact with officials from across China’s trademark policymaking landscape. For the third year in a row, INTA invited China’s Supreme People’s Court to participate in its judicial panel session, which took place on May 20. This year’s discussion focused on brand restrictions. For more information on this year’s session, please see the report on page 6 of the May 21 issue of the INTA Daily News.

INTA also had substantial participation from China’s Ministry of Public Security (MPS) Economic Crimes Investigation Department (ECID) in charge of pursuing criminal counterfeiters. ECID Deputy Director General Zhang Jingli spoke at a session on e-commerce. Additionally, the MPS delegation attended this year’s anticounterfeiting day events on May 19, engaging in frank discussions with INTA members. The Anticounterfeiting Committee also welcomed Mr. Zhang to address pressing issues raised by the committee’s members.

The China Trademark Office (CTMO) and associated Trademark Examination Cooperation Center also sent a delegation. Officials engaged in the IP Office Workshop-a closed-door meeting of IP office officials in attendance at the Annual Meeting. CTMO also participated in the Trademark Office Practices-China Subcommittee meeting.

INTA worked with the China Trademark Association (CTA) to co-host this year’s China Reception following an INTA-CTA education panel session. CTA Vice Secretary General Zang Baoqing delivered remarks alongside INTA’s President, Tish Berard.

Attendance from China grew by nearly 20 percent over 2017 this year. This reflects the important role that the Annual Meeting plays in China’s trademark community and on the international stage.

Expanding the Message to Western China
INTA was honored to participate in an MPS-INTERPOL capacity training in historic Ningxia province on May 19. This marks the first time that INTA and its members have provided training outside the major coastal metropolitan centers. As China expands the trade in goods through the Belt and Road Initiative via western China into Central Asia, the important role of China’s enforcement agencies will grow to protect these vital trade linkages. During the meeting, INTA also learned about some cutting-edge initiatives by the MPS to use big data to combat counterfeits in the online-to-offline setting.

Future Plans
INTA is set to organize a leadership delegation to authorities in Beijing in early July. Following the reshuffling of IP-related duties within China’s ministries earlier this year, INTA is leading the way to better understand and communicate these issues to its members and set the stage for important improvements to ensure that China is a leading trademark jurisdiction in the world. For insight into how recent changes are affecting brand owners, see “The Outlook for IP and Brand Owners in the Context of China’s Institutional Reform” in the May 1 INTA Bulletin.

Additionally, INTA’s advocacy committees are currently working on drafting views to influence the next round of amendments to the China Trademark Law. Authorities have asked for comments from the public by July 31, and INTA is busy looking to make China’s trademark landscape a fruitful and beneficial one for the global trademark community.

Although every effort has been made to verify the accuracy of items in the INTA Bulletin, readers are urged to check independently on matters of specific concern or interest. Law & Practice updates are published without comment from INTA except where it has taken an official position.