On June 10^th, 2017, the Trademark Law Forum on the Integrated Protection of IP Rights (the “Forum”) was held at the Guangzhou Baiyun International Convention Center. The event was hosted by the Internet Law Research Center of the South China University of Technology and co-hosted by Shanghai Bestone Information Technology Co., Ltd. W&B Partner Yizhou Liu was invited to the Forum to deliver a lecture on The Identification of Improper Trademark Registration.

Among the Forum’s guests were prominent scholars from the South China University of Technology, the Southwest University of Political Science and Law and the Zhongshan University; judges with long experience hearing cases involving IP rights in the Beijing Higher People’s Court, the Guangdong Province Higher People’s Court, the Guangzhou Intellectual Property Court and the Foshan Intermediate People’s Court; and senior legal professionals from renowned IP firms and law firms. Experts from various fields focused on hot issues in current trademark law theory and practice, and they intensively discussed the following four topics and expressed their opinions thereupon: (i) Trademark Use and Infringement, (ii) Reasonable Use of Trademarks and the Boundaries of Trademark Rights, (iii) The Identification of Improper Trademark Registrations and (iv) Trademark Protection in the Internet Environment.

W&B Partner Yizhou Liu delivered a lecture entitled The Identification of Registration Using Other Improper Means and the Application of Law at the Forum, in which he introduced and analyzed the meaning, legislative purpose and scope of application of and the disputes arising from the application of Article 44.1 of the P.R.C. Trademark Law.

During the discussion session, Mr. Liu drew on his experience in similar cases to express his views on how to distinguish the accumulation of trademark reserves from malicious trademark hoarding. He asserted that a determination on this issue should be subject to full consideration of factors such as the scale and business scope of the registrant, and whether there is a sufficient connection between the disputed trademark and the primary trademark used by the registrant. He also discussed with the other guests over issues such as how to prove the registrant’s malice and how to determine damage to the public interest.

The Forum successfully provided a cooperative communication platform for IP legal professionals from various industries including scholars, judges and attorneys at law. As a full-service law firm focusing on IP services, Watson & Band keeps up with hot issues within the industry; accordingly, at the Forum W&B fully displayed its professionalism and cooperative attitude to guests from various fields.