Planning to trade in China? If so, register your mark early to beat Trade Mark Squatters.

If you are trading, planning to trade in, or exporting to China, have you registered your trade mark there yet?  If not, be warned: bad faith applicants are filing Chinese applications for the trade marks of established overseas companies and then blackmailing the companies into buying back the rights to their own name.  

Unfortunately, Chinese trade mark law has very weak provisions outlawing this practice, and unless you can demonstrate substantial use of your mark in China before the filing date of the bad faith application it is almost impossible to have it cancelled.

The most effective way to avoid this trap is to register your own mark in China before the squatters do.  The good news is that the filing of a UK trade mark application gives you a six month grace period for filing in China, so that your Chinese application will have priority over any bad faith applications filed after your UK application.

Contact John Reddington or Ian Tollett for more details.