Attorney Feng giving speech on the 2018 China Intellectual Property Forum

The 2018 China Intellectual Property Forum was held at the National Convention Center from June 2nd to June 3rd. The forum was co-hosted by China Intellectual Property Forum Committee and Beijing Intellectual Property Research Institute, with support from organizations and representative enterprises such as AIPPI International. The forum focused on the topic “Theory, Legislation and Optimal Implementation of Intellectual Property in the New Era”.  Experts attending the forum include Junli Xia, chief judge of intellectual property from the Supreme People’s Court; Congzhen Huang, deputy chief judge of third court of civil trial in Fujian Higher People’s Court; Xuejun Zhang, deputy chief judge of third court of civil trial in Guangdong Higher People’s Court; Xiaoqing Feng, professor and doctorate advisor at China University of Political Science and Law; Lianfeng Wang, professor of intellectual property and doctorate advisor at East China University of Political Science and Law. Attorney Charles Feng, partner of East & Concord gives speech on the topic of “Understanding and Development of the ‘pre-emptive action’ in trademark right verification cases and the ‘free-ride action’ in trademark infringement cases”.

Attorney Feng giving speech on the 2018 China Intellectual Property Forum

In his speech, based on analyzing typical cases, Attorney Feng presented his detailed understanding and vivid explanation on stipulations of Article 7, Article 13, Article 15, Article 32 and Paragraph 1 of Article 44 of the Trademark Law which regulates the pre-emptive registration of trademarks and the trademark use in bad-faith, and also made a detailed analysis on the characteristics of the application of these articles in newest judicial precedents and these stipulations’ development tendency.  These newest judicial precedents cited include: “清样” trademark case, “海棠湾” trademark case, “AmCham” trademark case and “facebook” trademark case, etc., all of which were made by the Supreme People’s Court or Beijing Higher People’s Court. During his speech, Attorney Feng attached great importance on discussing the judicial determination of “improper means” and the application scope of these articles, and the application of the Principle of honesty and credibility stipulated in Article 7 of the Trademark Law on relevant judicial precedents regarding the pre-emptive registration and trademark use in bad-faith matters.

Moreover, Mr. Feng suggested thought-provoking ways of altering traditional practices with regard to the current reality of pre-emptive registration of trademark and trademark use in bad-faith, which received undivided attention of and sparked excited discussions among the attending judges and experts.