On June 23, the 23rd session of the Standing Committee of the 14th People's Congress was held in Beijing, and the second reading of the draft amendment to the Trademark Law was submitted for deliberation. The second reading of the draft amendment clearly aims to "deceptive trademarks" and intensify the crackdown on the use of registered trademarks in a manner that misleads the public. The important theoretical achievements of the Communist Party of China and symbolic elements related to historical events hold specific significance. To this end, the second reading of the draft amendment adds a provision: anything identical or similar to the "important theoretical achievements historical events, and other symbolic elements related to the Communist Party of China" shall not be registered or used as a trademark. Currently, "deceptive trademarks" have become "de tools" to mislead consumers, disrupting the order of trademark administration and harming the legitimate rights and interests of consumers. The second reading of the draft amendment specifies that those who use registered trademarks in a that misleads the public shall be ordered by the trademark enforcement department to make corrections within a time limit. If the illegal business turnover is 50,000 yuan or, a fine of up to five times the illegal business turnover may be imposed; if there is no illegal business turnover or it is less than 50,000 yuan a fine of up to 250,000 yuan may be imposed. If the correction is not made within the time limit, the trademark administration department of the State shall revoke the registered trademark. Meanwhile, a provision is added stating that any unit or individual has the right to file a complaint or report the illegal act of "using a registered trademark a manner that misleads the public" to the trademark enforcement department. It also clarifies that public officials who "grant trademark registration that does not meet the conditions for trademark registration, adverse effects" shall be punished according to law. In recent years, the problem of disorderly competition in the trademark agency market has become prominent. To strengthen the record-filing of trademark agencies and their practitioners, the second reading of the draft amendment adds a provision: trademark agencies shall report relevant information about the agency and its trademark agency practitioners to the trademark administration of the State Council for record-filing. Trademark administration departments at all levels and trademark enforcement departments shall strengthen the management of trademark agencies and trademark agency practitioners. At the same, corresponding legal liabilities are stipulated for trademark agencies that fail to file for record according to law. The trademarks of some Chinese enterprises have been preemptively registered abroad, harming the legitimate and interests of the enterprises and adversely affecting their "going global" efforts. The second reading of the draft amendment strengthens the protection of relevant rights and interests of enterprises by adding a provision during the examination and trial of overseas trademark registrations or the handling of trademark cases, if it is necessary to prove that a trademark is well-known to the relevant public within the territory of, the trademark administration department of the State Council may, at the request of the party concerned, confirm the well-known status of the trademark in accordance with the provisions of Article63 of this Law.

The revised draft stipulates that when a trademark proprietor requests compensation and the alleged infringer raises a defense that the trademark has not been used, the people's court require the trademark proprietor to provide evidence of the actual use of the trademark within the three years prior to the filing of the lawsuit. Because "prior to the filing of the lawsuit" is as the cutoff time for the non-use defense, it leaves room for trademark proprietors to engage in symbolic use of the trademark after discovering others' use of it, thereby exacerbating the of registering trademarks without actual use. The second reading of the revised draft changes "prior to the filing of the lawsuit" to "prior to the occurrence of the infringing act". (Outlook New Era)