Annual Development Report on China's Trademark Strategy 2014
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Annual Development Report on China's Trademark Strategy 2014 TRADEMARK OFFICE/TRADEMARK REVIEW AND ADJUDICATION BOARD OF STATE ADMINISTRATION FOR INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA China Industry & Commerce Press Preface Preface In 2014, Trademark staff in AICs and market supervision departments at all levels seriously implemented the spirit of the 18th National Congress of the CPC, and the third and fourth plenary meetings of 18th CPC Central Committee, followed the decisions and deployments of the Leading Party Group of SAIC, took the opportunity of enforcement of the revised Trademark Law, forged ahead with determination, insisted in exploration and innovation and promoted the reform and development of trademark to a new stage. ——Continuous Efforts to Facilitate Application for Trademark Registration. In 2014, with China’s economic transformation upgraded, the reform of business registration system has constantly increased the creativity and vitality of the market participants. The trademark application grew quickly and passed 2 million for the first time, reaching 2,285 millions, with a year-on-year growth of 21.5%, hitting a new record in the history and keeping the highest amount of the world for consecutive 13 years. The Trademark Office and Trademark Review and Adjudication Board of SAIC faced and overcame the difficulties, such as the application growing quickly, the running of Phase III system and the limited period of trademark examination and review, took emergency measures to improve the examination efficiency and complete the task of trademark examination by overtime working. The office examined 2.426 million trademark applications, which was over 2 million for the first time, an increase of 70.3%; the average examining period was kept in 9 months by the law. The Trademark Review and Adjudication Board settled 116,000 review cases in last year. There are 86,000 rejected cases and 30,000 complex cases. ——Continuous Efforts in Building up Trademark Legislation. The revised Trademark Law and Regulations for the Implementation of the Trademark Law were implemented at the same time on May 1, 2014. AICs and market supervision departments at all levels followed the centralized deployment of the SAIC, practically made Trademark Law promotions and trainings and pushed forward the successful implementation for the new law. Zhang Mao, minister of SAIC received an exclusive interview by the Xinhua News Agency. SAIC held a news conference on 001 Annual Development Report on China’s Trademark Strategy 2014 implementation of the revised trademark law and held two on line interviews on Qiang Guo Forum of the website of People Daily in response to social concerns and answering questions. SAIC also held a training about Regulation for the Implementation of Trademark Law and the second logo protection training course for Summer Olympic Games. SAIC released the Notification on relevant issues for implementation of the revised Trademark Law of the People’s Republic of China, ensuring the smooth transition from the Trademark Law to the new one. AICs and market supervision departments at all levels combined with the activity of “April 26”world IRP publicity week, organized and carried out series of publicity training for the revised Trademark Law, raising the public awareness for the new law. ——Continuous Efforts to Strengthen the Protection of the Exclusive Right to Use a Trademark. According to the centralized deployment made by the SAIC, AICs and market supervision departments at all levels focused on strengthening trademark administrative enforcement, launching combats against IPR infringements and counterfeits, and keeping the momentum of rigorously cracking down on IPR infringement and counterfeiting. In 2014, 67,500 cases about IPR infringement and counterfeiting have been investigated and treated, with a total amount of 998 million yuan involved; 355 cases were transferred to judicial organizations, with a total amount of 480 million yuan involved. SAIC issued “SAIC’s Opinion on the Disclosure of Information Concerning IPR Infringement and Counterfeiting Cases Which received Administrative Penalties (Draft)”, and arranged local AICs to disclose case information accordingly. AICs pushed forward the construction of platform for sharing the trademark administrative enforcement information, participated in the construction of platform for sharing information on connection between trademark administrative enforcement and criminal justice in the combat against IPR infringement and counterfeiting and made further communication and cooperation between trademark administrative enforcement and criminal justice. ——Continuous Progress in the Ability to Use Trademarks Effectively. AICs and market supervision departments at all levels pushed forward the implementation of trademark strategy and enhanced the guidance and services of trademark, strived to improve the ability to use trademark effectively. First, Trademark Office enhanced the registration and examination of geographical indications and trademarks for agricultural products, strengthened the work of guidance,publicity and training on registration and protection of geographical indications and trademarks for agricultural products, and guided the farmers and enterprises related to agriculture to 002 Preface increase awareness in trademarks and brands. By the end of year 2014, total amount of registered trademarks for agricultural products reached 1,689,000, and that of registered or preliminarily approved geographical indications reached 2,697, among of which foreign GIs registered or preliminarily approved in China amounted to 81. Second, the Office has actively carried out promotion and training on international registration of trademarks under the Madrid System. It has provided guidance to domestic applicants on registration matters and supported domestic companies to safeguard their trademark rights in overseas markets. In 2014, applications for Madrid registration of trademarks filed by Chinese applicants reached 2,140 (one application covering several classes), ranking the seventh in the Madrid system. The total number of Madrid applications originating from China has added up to 18, 600 by 2014. The Office received 20,309 designations in year 2014, ranking the first in the Madrid system as in previous years. The total number of designations to China has added up to 208, 900 by 2014. Third, the Office has actively guided and supported enterprises to get loans with trademark rights as pledges. It has processed 758 applications for trademark rights pledge recorded, and 8,721 trademarks pledged, which helped enterprises to secure 51.9 billion yuan in loans, a year-on-year increase of 29%. Fourth, the Office has carried out in-depth research on the relationship between trademarks and economic development, endeavoring to make researches on trademarks forward-looking and practical. The Office has held an advanced seminar to study the leading-edge issues in IP fields, focusing on policy research and the comprehensive analysis of data, promoting application of research results. ——Continuous Efforts in Improving Trademark-related Services. By improving software and hardware construction, implementing strict discipline and standardizing work flow, SAIC tried to optimize the services provided by the Trademark Registration Hall and the Zhongguancun office. It also paid a lot of attentions to improve the consultation services. In 2014, 175 thousands applications were accepted by the Trademark Registration Hall and the Zhongguancun office, and more than 88 thousands consulting requests were handled. Trademark Office has made great efforts to improve its website. In line with the new Trademark Law, it has launched the new application system, and timely updated the Guide on Application for Trademark Registration. In 2014, on-line applications reached 1.384 million, taking 60.6% of the total applications. 94,500 consultation telephones were answered, increasing by 41.63%. 4,184 online public messages were responded, increasing by 82.73%. In addition, new progress was made in administration of trademark agencies, trademark 003 Annual Development Report on China’s Trademark Strategy 2014 international exchanges and cooperation, and team building, which provided a strong support to promote reform and development of trademark business. In order to comprehensively display new achievements of trademark work, further publicized knowledge of trademark laws, and strengthen awareness of trademark in the whole society, under the instructions of Mr. Zhang Mao ( Minister of SAIC) and Mr. Liu Junchen ( Vice Minister of SAIC ), Trademark Office and Trademark Review and Adjudication Board compiled the Annual Development Report on China’s Trademark Strategy (2014) (hereinafter referred as Annual Development Report (2014)). The Annual Development Report (2014) consists of 13 chapters, starting with “Implementation of Trademark Strategy”. It systematically records the achievements in 2014 made by AIC system in terms of trademark application and registration, trademark administrative enforcement, geographical indications and trademark for agricultural products, trademark review and adjudication, trademark legislation, trademark agencies, local trademark progress, international registration and oversea rights protection, international exchanges and cooperation, trademark publicity, trademark infrastructure and information construction and team building. Major and important events are pooled