Judicial Interpretations of the Supreme People's
Court regarding Jurisdiction and Application of Law in Trials of Trademark Related Cases

The Supreme People's Court issued the "Judicial Interpretations of the Supreme People's Court regarding Jurisdiction and Application of Law in Trials of Trademark Related Cases" on January 9, 2002. The Interpretations became effective as of January 21, 2002.

The Interpretations were made in accordance with the newly amended Trademark Law (December 1, 2001), the Civil Procedural Law and Administrative Procedural Law of the P. R. China. Details of the Interpretations are:

1. The cases the People's Court shall receive include:
   1. where parties are not satisfied with the review decisions or rulings of the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board (hereinafter referred to as "TRAB" ) of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC);
   2. where parties are not satisfied with specific administrative acts of the Administration for Industry and Commerce (AIC);
   3. cases concerning disputes of ownership of trademark;
   4. cases concerning trademark infringement; e. e. cases concerning disputes of trademark assignment contracts;f. f. cases concerning disputes of trademark license contracts; g. g. cases concerning application for injunction to stop trademark infringement before formal legal proceedings. h. h. cases concerning application for preservation of property before formal legal proceedings.i. i. cases concerning application for preservation of evidences before formal legal proceedings.j. j. other trademark cases.
2. Jurisdiction of cases. According to the Interpretations, cases of first instance where parties are not satisfied with the review decisions or rulings of the TRAB shall be tried by the relevant Intermediate People's Courts within the jurisdiction of Beijing Higher People's Court according to the authorization of the Supreme People's Court. Generally, cases of first instance concerning trademark civil disputes shall fall into the jurisdiction of the Intermediate People's Courts or courts at higher level. However, in large cities, the Higher People's Courts may designate one or two courts at county level as the court(s) of first instance according to the actual situations within their jurisdiction, with prior approval from the Supreme People's Court.
3. In trademark infringement cases, where the trademark registrants or interested parties have requested AIC to deal with trademark infringement acts, and have in the meantime initiated legal proceedings for liabilities of the trademark infringement acts, the People's Court shall accept such cases.
4. Retroactivity and Applicability of the Law.
   1. For cases that were pending with the TRAB before the effective date of the amended trademark law (December 1, 2001) and the decisions or rulings thereof are made by the TRAB after that date, parties concerned are entitled to initiate legal proceedings with the People's Court if not satisfied with such decisions and rulings.
   2. For infringement acts taking place before the effective date of the amended trademark law, if trademark registrants or interested parties apply for injunction or preservation of evidences before initiating formal legal proceedings with the People's Court after the effective date of the amended trademark law, Article 57 and Article 58 of the amended law shall apply.
   3. Cases pending with the People's Court and no rulings thereof were made as of the effective date of the amended trademark law shall be dealt with in light of Article 56 of the amended law.d. d. Unless otherwise provided, for cases concerning trademark civil disputes received by the People's Court after the effective date of the amended trademark law, the previous trademark law shall apply if civil acts concerned took place before the effective date. However, if the civil acts took place after the date, the amended trademark law shall apply. For acts took place before the date but continued after the date, both the previous and amended law shall apply respectively.

(For English translation of the amended trademark law, please contact us by e-mail: mail@zz-iplaw.com.cn )