Supreme People's Court, Several Questions on the Application of Law in Trial of Trademark Civil Dispute Cases Interpretation

Promulgated: October 12 2002
Effective: October 16 2002
Applicability: The Interpretation is also applicable to trademarks for services (Article 23). The Interpretation shall prevail over earlier provisions in respect of the same matters (Article 24).

Main contents: The Interpretation defines certain acts as "acts causing other harm to another's exclusive right to use a registered trademark" under Item (5), Article 52 of the PRC Trademark Law (Article 1). These acts include the use of a domain name identical or similar to another person's registered trademark for the e-commerce of related commodities, which may mislead the relevant public. The relevant public is defined as the consumers of the commodities or services identified with the trademark and the other business operators closely related to the marketing of such commodities or services (Article 8). Principles are provided on which a court shall determine the identity and similarity of trademarks under Item (1), Article 52 of the PRC Trademark Law (Article 10). The Interpretation defines three types of trademark licences: exclusive licences, sole licences and general licences (Article 3). If the exclusive right to use a registered trademark is infringed, lawsuits can be initiated by an exclusive licensee alone, or by a sole licensee jointly with the registrant (or alone when the registrant does not do so), or by a general licensee with express authorization of the registrant (Article 4). Courts shall accept infringement suits initiated while the renewal of the relevant trademark is being applied for (Article 5). The Interpretation also contains provisions regarding calculation of damages in infringement suits (Articles 13 to 18).
Related legislation: PRC Civil Law General Principles, Apr 12 1986; PRC Contract Law, Mar 15 1999, CLP 1999 No.4 p19; PRC Trademark Law (2nd Revision), Oct 27 2001, CLP 2001 No.10 p75 and PRC Civil Procedure Law (2nd Revision)
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