Determination of Special Trademark Should be Examined Case by Case.

The regulation concerning special trademark is added to the Trademark Law. Due to the fact that products nowadays mostly possess compound mark, proprietors consider that more infringement disputes will arise from the registration of sound, color, and 3D trademarks of the same product. On April 21, Intellectual Property Office (IPO) held a public hearing on examination standards in connection with the above-noted issue. Though no consensus was achieved in this public hearing, both the government and proprietors agree that trademark examination must be conducted “case by case”.

Since the opening to the application for trademark registration of sound, 3D shape, and single color mark in November of 2003, there have been 87 application cases of 3D trademarks in total up to now, most of which are the application of the bottle design of liquor products. Further, sound trademark application totals 19 cases, and most of which are those applications of the convenient stores and advertisement marketing, and color trademark application totals 56 cases. (2003.04)

CYJ/CCS