Legislation roundup: Trademark Law implementing regulations and VAT for telecoms

Intellectual property

State Council, Implementing Regulations for the PRC Trademark Law (Revised)
国务院中华人民共和国商标法实施条例 (修订)

According to the revision, where the Trademark Office, in respect of an application for registration of a trademark, denies registration on certain of the designated goods, the applicant may apply to have the preliminarily approved portion of the application split off as a separate application, whereupon the Trademark Office will gazette the separated preliminarily approved application.

The Regulations also specify that the time for service of trademark documents by announcement, provision of additional evidence by a party and the correction of evidence and the time required for responding anew after the replacement of a party, to wait for the determination of prior right, etc. is not counted toward the time limit for examination and hearing by the Trademark Office and Trademark Review and Adjudication Board.

Finally, the Regulations further clarify the specific meaning of terms such as “providing facilities for infringers” in trademark infringement decisions; expressly specify that using another's trademark on the packaging of goods or trade dress, thereby misleading the public, constitutes trademark infringement; and specify the factors that may be considered when calculating “illegal turnover”.

See full translation.

Further reading
IP owners seek transparency on interim injunctions
PRC Trademark Law (3rd Revision)
Implementing Regulations for the PRC Trademark Law


Tax

Ministry of Finance and State Administration of Taxation, Circular on Including the Telecommunications Industry in the Pilot Projects for the Levy of Value-added Tax in Place of Business Tax
财政部、国家税务总局关于将电信业纳入营业税改征增值税试点的通知

Entities and individuals that provide telecommunications services in China are required to pay value-added tax and cease to pay business tax. The tax rate on the provision of basic telecommunications services is 11%, and that on the provision of value-added telecommunications services is 6%. Entities and individuals in China that provide telecommunications services to entities outside China are exempt from value-added tax.

See the digest for more details.

Further reading

Circular on the Launch of Pilot Tax Policies for the Levy of Value-added Tax in Place of Business Tax in the Transport Industry and Certain Modern Service
Plan for Pilot Projects for the Levy of Value-added Tax in Place of Business Tax
Evolution: VAT reform changes the economy