China's Supreme People's Court (SPC) Thursday overturned the rulings in the first and second trials of an administrative lawsuit filed by Christian Dior Perfumes LLC.
The lawsuit was against the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board (TRAB) attached to the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC), according to a SPC press release.
The SAIC Trademark Office rejected an application from Dior, through the International Bureau of World Intellectual Property Organization, for an extension of territorial protection over one of its perfume trademarks in China in July 2015. Dior's later appeal to the TRAB also failed.
The French fashion house thus filed an administrative lawsuit against the TRAB over its application review, which it lost in both the first and second trials.
The case reached the SPC, to which the company applied for a retrial, the statement said.
The SPC heard the case and announced the judgement Thursday. It ruled that the Trademark Office had procedural flaws in processing Dior's application, which was not corrected by the TRAB.
The court asked the TRAB to correct relevant procedural problems and make another review of the application.
The applicant had finished international registration according to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks and fulfilled most of its duties required by Chinese law, only failing to provide some needed documents in its original application, according to the SPC statement.
The administration should have offered the applicant a chance to remedy so as to protect legal rights and interests of international trademark applicants, it said.
China would like to actively exercise its obligations for international treaties including Madrid Agreement and provide effective judicial relief for international trademark applicants, the SPC said.
The SAIC was recently merged into the State Administration for Market Regulation.
