On the morning of December 6^th, 2016, the Beijing IP Court commenced the trial of an administrative dispute concerning the reexamination of the rejected “didididididi” (sound trademark) trademark application in which Tencent Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd sued the SAIC Trademark Review and Appraisal Board (TRAB). The case has attracted great attention as the first administrative dispute concerning the reexamination of a rejected sound trademark application since sound was included within the scope of eligibility of trademark registration under China’s amended Trademark Law.

    On May 4^th, 2016, Tencent applied for registration of sound trademark for its prompt sound of “didididididi”. After the Trademark Office refused to register the trademark, Tencent applied for reexamination with TRAB. On April 18^th, 2016, the Committee upheld the rejection on the ground that although Tencent had submitted evidence in support of the high reputation of QQ software, sound trademarks are merely marks for certain functions included in software and the sound “didididididi” was simple and lacked inventiveness. The decision also stated that the sound, as intended for use on service projects such as television broadcasting and message transfers, lacked sufficiently prominent features to distinguish the source of the services with which it was associated. Consequently, TRAB decided not to approve the registration application. Tencent filed an administrative lawsuit with the Beijing IP Court within the legal statute of limitations.

Via the China Intellectual Property Journal