China National Intellectual Property Administration, Criteria for Determining Trademark Infringements (Draft for Comments)
国家知识产权局商标侵权判断标准 (征求意见稿)
January 02, 2020 | BY
Susan MokCNIPA clarifies trademark infringements
Issued: December 18, 2019
Main contents: The phrase "without the permission of the trademark registrant" specified in Article 57 of the Trademark Law shall additionally include circumstances where the class, goods (services), term, etc. licensed by the trademark registrant is or are exceeded (Article 8).
The "same goods (services)" specified in Articles 57 and 67 of the Trademark Law means goods (services) that have the same description, as well as goods (services) that have different descriptions but refer to the same things (Article 9).
When determining whether trademarks are identical or similar, the rights holder's registered trademark shall be compared with the alleged infringing trademark, in particular comparing the main identifying portion of the rights holder's registered trademark with the main identifying portion of the alleged infringing trademark, and no comparison shall be made between the trademark actually used by the rights holder and the alleged infringing trademark (Article 15).
Where a mark that is identical or similar to another's registered trademark is used without the permission of the trademark registrant and such mark is used to indicate the generic name, depiction or model number of the goods (services), or indicate the quality, main raw materials, functions, intended purpose, weight, quantity or other characteristic of the goods (services) or indicate the origin of the goods (services) and would not give rise to misidentification by the relevant public, the same constitutes fair use and does not constitute trademark infringement (Article 39).
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