In the news: Sound trademarks, the NDRC's new investigation and SPC judgments go online
July 05, 2013 | BY
clpstaff &clp articles &The latest draft of the Trademark Law before the NPC includes sound trademarks. The NDRC has announced an investigation into six baby formula producers and the SPC has started posting judgments online
Trademark Law may include sounds
China Daily reported that the latest draft of the Trademark Law put before the National People's Congress this week includes sound marks. This would allow companies to register familiar tunes as audio trademarks. If approved, the amendment would mean that for the first time the requirements that trademarks must be visual are removed.
There are so many issues with the Law and the trademark regime. Owners are unlikely to be impressed by this move when bad faith filing and enforcement actions plague their IP strategy. Perhaps the best thing to come out of this story is that the Law is before the NPC. Market participants have already waited seven years for the Law to be passed – it is about time a final version was approved and put into effect.
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PRC Trademark Law (中华人民共和国商标法)
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China's next antitrust target - baby formula makers
It was announced this week that the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) will launch an investigation into baby formula makers. Mead Johnson, Wyeth, Dumex, Abbott Labs, Frisco and Biostime are all targets of the investigation. The NDRC said these companies had raised their prices by 30% since 2008. The makers violated the country's Anti-monopoly Law by manipulating wholesale and retail prices, the Commission said.
Since the LCD price fixing cartel came to light and the investigations in two of China's leading distilleries began, everyone has been waiting to find out who would be the NDRC's next target. The Commission is feeling confident and is ready to exert its power over alleged monopolistic practices. It also likely that the government wants to boost domestic makers who have suffered in the past because of safety concerns.
More from CLP:
PRC Anti-monopoly Law (中华人民共和国反垄断法).
SPC posts top judgments online
Xinhua reported that China's top court has started posting judgments online. The judgments from the Supreme People's Court (SPC) will continue to be uploaded to www.court.gov.cn/zgcpwsw, as long as the cases do not concern national secrets, trade secrets or personal privacy. The management office of the SPC said the move will guarantee people's rights to be informed and reinforce judicial supervision.
Transparency is always a good thing, especially in China, where court decisions are sometimes never seen except by the parties involved. Even though the country is not a case law country, judgments from the SPC and high courts do have prominence as judges from lower courts look to them for guidance.
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