Trademark registration is currently a popular business strategy among Chinese enterprises. With increased awareness about intellectual property protection, Chinese entrepreneurs are looking to exclusively control distinguished commercial marks attached to their products or services in the course of commercial circulation. Some trademark registrations, nevertheless, undermine the administrative process and violate the trademark law.

Two Chinese companies in the provinces of Guangdong and Hunan have recently filed trademark registrations for the full name of deceased doctor Li Wenliang, who was the first to sound the alarm over a SARS-like illness that would later be known as COVID-19. While people in the country were still mourning his death, the behavior of the two enterprises caused outrage among the public. Eventually, both enterprises withdrew their applications and made official apologies.

Although the two companies took back their applications, the focal issue remains whether their endeavors were legitimate and subsequently possibly approved in terms of trademark law and administrative regulations.

The trademark law establishes a comprehensive system to determine valid registration based on its distinctiveness, which is the core of trademark validity. Distinctiveness demands that a valid trademark be distinct from other commercial marks in the same category of goods or services. This is designed to prevent potential consumer confusion.

Source: China Daily