Protecting Well-Known Marks in China : Challenges for Foreign Mark Holders

This article addresses the challenges of extraterritorial trademark protection in China, where the business and legal environments are quite at variance. The decisions surveyed include cases brought by: Anheuser-Busch, Nike, Starbucks, Dell, Bloomberg and so forth, where these companies assert that their well-known marks are being appropriated by local companies for commercial uses in contravention of applicable laws and treaties. The author describes China's progress on protecting intellectual property rights, as well as the administrative and judicial systems who oversee enforcement. The author concludes that while there has been progress in China regarding protection of intellectual property rights, there is much more to be done and mark owners enter this market to some extent at their own risk. The international community's influence on intellectual property rights enforcement in China continues, and this is a positive outcome for mark owners