At the end of this summer, a new wave of the "Spider-Man" series arrived in China. The Amazing Spider-Man, a Hollywood movie which amazed innumerous fans, was released on 27th August. The novel of the same name has also been published in America. The right of publishing the book in China was bought by Qingdao Publishing Group who launched a series of books related to "Spider-Man" in August, including novel, comic, and a children's game book.
Trademark application of Ferrero Rocher rejected
Well known Italian chocolate producer Ferrero Rocher met its Waterloo when applying for figurative mark for its long used package in China. Recently, Beijing First Intermediate People's Court affirmed the decision of rejecting the reexamination of the trademark application made by the Trademark Appeal Board of the State Administration for Industry & Commerce of the People's Republic of China, and dismissed Ferrero Rocher's appeals on the ground that the trademark lacks of distinctiveness itself and ruled it could not acquire distinctiveness through use either.
Haday sues Weiji for trademark infringement
A news report titled Giant Enterprise Use Carcinogenic Industrial Salt to Make Thousands of Cases of Soy Sauce, which did not explicitly name the enterprise involved, accidentally pushed China's well-known soy sauce manufacturer Haday into a deep crisis overnight. The misunderstanding starts from the "Weiji" trademark. Haday has a type of soy sauce product with a trademark Weiji, which is the same as the name of the defendant enterprise. Haday claimed that the defendant was misleading the customers to think that the products of the two companies were somehow related by emphasizing the word "Weiji" in its advertisements, therefore, Haday claims the defendant has infringed upon its trademark right and its actions constituted unfair competition. Haday requested that the court grant its motion requiring that the defendant stop infringing activities, compensate 10 million yuan, and apologize and eliminate the bad influences on Haday.
A hundred writers of the Shanda Literature called for updating the working rules of search engines
Recently, a hundred writers of the Shanda Literature released a joint statement which appealed to search engines such as Baidu, 360, Sogou and SoSo to take actions to boycott infringing search results. They also came up with explicit requirements on reducing the weight of piracy sites, eliminating infringing contents in 24 hours and requiring pre-audit upload contents, etc. After the statement was released, major search engines mentioned above gave feedbacks in no time, expressing their supports for fighting piracy.
Shenzhen Champion Connection to pay Microsoft 1.15 million yuan for copyright infringement
In December 2011, Microsoft filed a lawsuit with the Shenzhen Futian People's Court against a Chinese financial information providing company, Shenzhen Champion Connection Co., Ltd., for infringing upon the copyright of its Windows System, Office software, server operating system, database and development tools and other software. Microsoft sought relief requiring that the defendant cease infringing activities and compensate Microsoft's economic damages. After 8 months of trail the court ruled in favor of Microsoft and awarded it 1.15 million in compensations.
The rush registration of celebrities' names as trademarks increased 110 times in the last decade
As soon as the Olympic Games ended, some of the champions became nagged by a rush of registrations as applicants sought trademark protection to use their names. Registration information such as "Lin Dan" feed and "Ye Shiwen" bathing suits appeared constantly in media reports. According to the statistics of the Beijing First Intermediate People's Court, the volume of administrative cases concerning trademarks filed rose rapidly from 19 in 2002 to 2,043 in 2011, which means an increase of nearly 110 times in the last decade. Among these cases, a large quantity were caused by rush registrations in bad faith.
GEM: 39 patents pledged for 300 million yuan loan
At the signing ceremony of the Hubei Patent Pledge Financing Project in Wuhan, Global Emission Management Co. Ltd. (GEM) from Jinmen City pledged 39 patents in exchange for a loan of 300 million yuan provided by the Hubei branch of the China Development Bank. The amount of the loan set a new record of a single patent pledge agreement of an individual enterprise nationwide. The pledged 39 patents are concerned with recycling used batteries, rare metals recovery, and E-waste recycling, etc. Many of the patents have been granted patents in Japan and the U.S. as well.
"National Liquor Moutai" triggers controversy
Recently, the trademark application of "National Liquor Moutai" filed by Guizhou Moutai has passed the preliminary examination of China's Trademark Office, which caused an uproar in the industry. Shanxi Fenjiu Group, Hebei Hengshui Laobaigan Liquor-making (Group) Co., Ltd., Guizhou Renhuai Nanguo Liquor-making Group, Century Law Firm, Chengdu Lijiu IP Agency, Jingxi Ruian Design Company and a Chongqing consulting company have all filed objections against the registration of the "National Liquor Moutai" trademark.
China International Live Theatre League founded in Beijing
On September 11th, the first international live theatre league in China—China International Live Theatre League (League) was formally founded. The League is the first of its kind in China and is a professional performance cooperation body co-sponsored by theatres and performance units both at home and abroad. With "communication, cooperation, innovation and development" as its tenet, the League will integrate the resources and advantages of the governmental departments, troupes, brokerage firms as well as the academic circles to improve the industrial chain gradually. 71 theatres all over China joined the League to be its first list of members.
