ThePaper.cn:

In December of last year, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) imposed sanctions against a trademark agency in Shenzhen, invalidating more than 15,000 trademarks the agent filed. What is your comment on the U.S. sanctions? Is there any problem with the agency? What measures have the CNIPA taken to respond to the issue? Thank you.

Hu Wenhui:

Thank you for your questions. I'd like to invite Ms. Lei to answer it.

Lei Xiaoyun:

Thank you for your questions. We've learned about the U.S. announcement. Media outlets and experts have made objective analyses on the steady growth of trademark applications in the United States from Chinese applicants. Most of them believe that the rapid increase in trademark applications in foreign countries is mainly because that the rapid development of China's cross-border e-commerce, which has pushed more Chinese products to meet the sales requirements of Amazon and other e-commerce platforms in the United States. 

As Chinese companies have become increasingly global in recent years, market entities' demand for intellectual property services has also surged, which therefore triggered rapid development of the intellectual property agency sector. In order to ensure the rights and interests of the applicants, we have stepped up efforts in the "Blue Sky" campaigns among other multiple measures to tighten regulation on trademark agents.

First, we launched a self-examination and rectification campaign and collected integrity commitments. Approximately 23,000 trademark registration agencies completed self-examination of key rectification issues and submitted their reports.

Second, we cracked down on malicious trademark registration activities in a timely manner. More than 130 such cases were investigated and punished.

Third, we strengthened supervision of major trademark registration cases and severely cracked down on acts that disrupted industry order. Three trademark registration agencies were ordered to cease related operations.

Fourth, we regulated platform-based trademark registration agencies and trading behavior through multiple means, such as offering administrative guidance, making regulatory talks for self-correction, suspending operations for self-rectification, and giving administrative penalties. The trading of 2.07 million trademarks suspected of being registered with malicious intention was withdrawn.

As for the Shenzhen-based agency you just mentioned, during a special crackdown campaign last year, the trademark law enforcing department imposed administrative penalties on the agency and its person in charge for false advertising and using illegal means to solicit business in China.

Next, we will fiercely crack down on violations of laws and regulations within trademark registration agencies, continue to improve the order of trademark agency industry and stimulate the vitality of trademark agency services, so as to provide strong support for comprehensively strengthening the protection and utilization of intellectual property. Thank you.