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What is a Trademark

A trademark or service mark can be any word, a phrase, symbol, design, or a combination of these that identifies the goods or services belonging to a specific company as well as recognizing the company’s ownership of the brand.

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Is trademark searching necessary?

Although trademark search is not mandatory, but it is recommended to conduct a pre-filing search before filing an application. In most cases, conducting pre-filing trademark searches is an important first step in any trademark registration, as it helps to avoid unintended infringement of third-party trademark rights.

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Partial Cancellation of Trademarks in Argentina is Arriving

Argentina’s National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) announced that ex officio or upon an applicant’s request, INPI may partially cancel a trademark in relation to the goods/services for which the trademark was not used, will come into effect on 12 June 2023.

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New Proposed Draft of Chinese Trademark Law

The China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) published its draft for the 5th Amendment to the Chinese Trademark Law (Draft Amendment) on 13 January 2023. The trademark law was amended four times since 1993, 2001, 2013 and 2019.

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USPTO Shorten Response Time to Office Actions to 3 Months

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued a notice that the time for responding to Office Action (OA) of US trademark examination will be shortened from 6 months to 3 months starting from 3 December 2022, which is intended to improve the efficiency of US trademark registration as well as speed up the registration process.

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Lao: Announcement on the abolition of notarization requirements for IP-related documents

In order to facilitate and improve the process of filing applications and other registration-related documents with the Department of Intellectual Property, the Department of Intellectual Property of the Ministry of Science and Technology announces the abolition of the notarization requirement for IP-related documents with effect from 26 June 2023.

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South Korea Trademark Law updates

The Korean Intellectual Property Office (“KIPO”) had made a several amendments to the Korean Patent Act, Trademark Act, and Design Protection Act that came in force on 20 April 2022. The aim of these amendments is to improve the Intellectual Property Rights (“IPR”) laws and make it more accessible to the applicant which often incurred in formality mistakes in detriment of their IP Rights.

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China Trademark Law updates

China has new rules on trademark that came in force on 1 January 2022, which the rules are intended to strengthen the detection of illegal trademark acts and stricter requirements on manufacturers on trademark use.

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Korea Introduces Trademark Co-Existence Consent System

A bill to amend the Korean Trademark Act was submitted to the Korean National Assembly on 20 March 2023. The amendment aims to introduce a trademark co-existence consent system to overcome the prior trademark barrier, which is a long-awaited system to the trademark industry.

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USPTO Sanctions Chinese Law Firm

On 10th December 2021, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) has issued a final order for sanctions against Shenzhen Huanyee Intellectual Property Co., Ltd. and Ms. Yusha Zhang, Huanyee’s Executive Director for filing more than 15,000 trademark applications which included “false and fraudulent submissions”.

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Hong Kong Trademark Registration System

Hong Kong Trade Mark Ordinance protects registered trademarks.

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China Trademark Registration System

Article 3 of the Trademark Law stipulates that “A registered trademark means a trademark that has been approved and registered by the Trademark Office.

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