What if your trademark is squatting registered by the others in China?
The trademark squatting registration happens frequently all over the world. According to the national Trademark Law, the settlements of the such squatting registration cases will be different in each country. The article talks about the measures to dealt with such cases in China as a reference.
There are mainly 3 kinds of squatting registrations in China:
Firstly, your trademark was filed/registered by your Chinese agents, retailers, business partners or some one who has business relationship with you in China.
If your trademark agent/attorney noticed that your trademark was squatting filed/registered by someone, the first thing you need to do is to check if the trademark applicant is your agent, retailer or business partners or someone who has business relationship with you in China. If he or she has ever had some business relationship with you and you can prove such relationship with proofs (such as contracts, emails, visit records, etc.) , you should collect the evidences and entrust a Chinese trademark agent/attorney to take actions. According to Article 15 of the China Trademark Law, “Where an agent or representative, without the authorization of the principal, seeks to register in the owner’s trademark, the registration shall be refused and the use of the mark shall be prohibited.”If the trademark is in the publication period, the trademark owner can file the Opposition against it; If the trademark has been registered, the trademark owner can file the Invalidation Application against it. Because the China Trademark Law rules that, anyone who knows the others’ trademarks by commercial communication, he is forbidden to apply for the said trademark with bad purpose.
Secondly, occupational trademark applicant will squatting file the trademarks he knows; Chinese agent squatting register the trademarks in the name of someone who has no relationship with the trademark owner.
There is a grope of people at every corner around the world who rush in registration of trademarks and then sell them at a high price as occupation. It is not an exception of China. You can investigate those rushers’ background if your trademark is taken over by them unluckily. Usually, a rusher will register many trademarks in many different classifications by the same principle part. If you can find such background information, you can raise an administrative appeal for ill- intention registration after the failure of objection or announcement of nullification. If the rusher want to sell the trademark to you at the high price in the process, please keep the kind of evidence in a good condition.
Thirdly, previous trademark was not filed in ill-condition. We cannot rule out the situation that the previous trademark registration owner register a same or similar trademark for their own use or having intentions to use. Usually in the case, you need to investigate his or her background first. If the trademark has been over 3 years and has not been in actual use, you can apply for overturning the trademark for its without use for consecutive 3 years. Certainly, for time-saving reasons, it is a good choice to accept the transfer of the trademark if the other side agree to sell the trademark to you at a very low price. However, if he or she does not want to sell the trademark for actual good-intention use, please change a new trademark for registration.
Finally, please commission a Chinese professional trademark agency to do some related analysis and a background report. It is helpful to make correct judgment if you can find several different agencies to offer related analysis and suggestions at different angels.