Top legislature debates trademark law draft amendment

The top legislature on Monday began deliberating a draft amendment to the Trademark Law that would prevent the malicious registration of trademarks that are already in use.

"Applications should not be accepted if the applicants know beforehand that the trademarks to be registered are already in use by other companies," says the draft, which was submitted to the bimonthly session of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) for review.

The draft is intended to curb the malicious registration of trademarks by individuals who have insider knowledge of other companies using said trademarks.

The amendment also offers protection for renowned trademarks, giving their owners the right to ban others from registering the trademarks or using similar ones -- even if such trademarks are not registered.

In such a case, the trademark in question must be determined to be well-known, with results to be valid only for that specific case, the amendment states.