Trademark Was Counterfeited, Essilor Won the Infringement Lawsuit

French Essilor International Co. Ltd. and Shanghai Essilor Optical Co. Ltd. invested by the French company in China recently appealed Shanghai Chengyang Optical Co. Ltd. who counterfeited their trademark to the court. Yesterday, No.1 Intermediate People’s Court of Shanghai made its first judgement that Chengyang Optical Co. Ltd. should stop infringing the registered trademark right of Essilor Co., However, the court did not give support to the request of Essilor Co. for recognizing “Essilor”as well-known trademark.

At the beginning of this year, consumers purchased hardened & coated resin lens with trademark EssilarBell at Guangcheng Glasses Wholesale Store of the glasses market of Danyang in Jiangsu province. The manufacturer of the lens was just the defendant in this case, Chengyang Optical Co.Ltd.

After inquisition, the court found out that Essilor Co. has registered two trademarks concerning Essilor successively in China. Comparing the trademarks of the plaintiff and the defendant, the court made judgement that they were similar trademarks. The action of defendant Chengyang Optical Co. Ltd. is trademark infringement and the company should stop its infringement action.

August 16, 2006                                Source: Wenhui Newspaper

Google Lauched Its First Sandwich Ice Cream

Owing to the unusual high temperature in the United States, various ice creams sell extremely well this summer. Google, the largest internet search engine company of the world, also focuses on this business opportunity and lauched its first ice cream with the brand of Google in good time.

It is reported by Russian News on August 14 that the name of the ice cream jointly manufactured by Google and the local ice cream manufacturer in the United States is “IT’S IT Ice Cream”. The trademark of Google is printed on the wrapping of the ice cream, it looks like sandwich with its surface coated with a thin layer of chocolate. The relevant principal of Google recommended that ice cream has four tastes, vanilla, chocolate, mint and coffee and is sold at the price of 24 cents. At present, the ice cream can only be bought in the Mountain View coffee store at the headquarters of Google.

August 17, 2006                            Source: International on line

Vicious Preemption of Trademark Cannot Succeed

Recently, the “CCTV1”, “DELL” and “Sony Ericsson”etc. were registered preemptively as the trademarks of sex products one after another. It became the topic of people’s talk that the preemption of trademark can make people rich in one night.

On this matter, Mei Jiangnan, the vice chief of the trademark office of the Industry and Commerce Bureau of Jiangsu province, claims that although the preemption of trademark does exist, the preemptive registration does not mean successful preemption. For one thing, the trademarks of sex products like “CCTV1”, “DELL” and “Sony Ericsson”etc., are not in conformity with the standard of honesty and credit, public order and good custom required in the General Rule of Civil Law, the application for these trademarks will surely be rejected. So it is ungrounded to say that one can get huge profit by authorization or assignment of these trademarks.

Wang Yang, the chief of Ninghai Trademark Firm of Jiangsu province, said that there are basically two kinds of vicious preemption of trademark: one is the preemption of popular words, such as “Laden”, “Kangfei(Anti-SARS)” “F4”etc.; the other is the preemption of others’ trademarks. However, most of the preemptively registered trademarks will be rejected and only few of them can be registered. But the registration of these trademarks, no matter for investment or for branding, should be carried out in a professional way. The registration of trademark does not mean profiting from it. After the registration, it also depends on the value of the trademark and whether the assignment of right is successful.

August 17, 2006                 Source: Xinhua Daily from www.xhby.net

Government Pays the Bill for Enterprises to Apply for Patent Right

It is reported that if the enterprises authorize agencies to deal with their patent applications, half of the service fee will be paid by the government, and the highest payment amount will probably be increased from RMB 10,000 to RMB 50,000.

Recently, the “Hundred-Thousand Connection Project”, i.e., the project that hundred patent agencies enter into Zhongguancun Science & Technology Park to cooperate with thousand enterprises, jointly carried out by the Intellectual Property Office of Beijing and the Administration Committee of Zhongguancun Science & Technology Park starts up in Beijing. In order to encourage enterprises to apply for patent right and cooperate with patent agency successfully, the IPO and the Administration Committee enacted many favorable policies. For instance, the special fund for enterprises to purchase agent service can be paid by the government.About 50% of the agent service fee is paid by the government. At present, the IPO is planning to increase the total payment amount to RMB 50,000.

August 17, 2006                                   Source: Huaxia Times

Charging Standard of KTV Copyright Fee is Published

Recently, according to relevant provisions of Chinese Copyright Law and Collective Administration Rules of Copyright, the charging standard of KTV copyright was published on the website of the National Copyright Administration (www.ncac.govern.cn) to get opinions from all walks of life from August 21, 2006 to September 20, 2006.

The standard is jointly made by the Chinese Music Copyright Association and the China Audio & Video Administration Association and submitted to the National Copyright Administration in the middle of July. It prescribes that 12 RMB should be charged per day for one KTV chamber.

The publication of the standard has a great shock on all walks of life. The principal of Shanghai Culture and Entertainment Association shows immediate objection to combining the fees of music and MV together and thinks that the charge prescribed in the standard is a little bit higher. It is said that the specific operation mode of the standard might be changed.  The Culture and Entertainment Associations in some cities and areas will also discuss this matter further and give feedback to the National Copyright Administration.

August 23, 2006                           Source: Oriental Morning Post