The international perspective

A well-known trademark is a concept enshrined internationally by the Paris Convention for the Protection of Intellectual Property. Trademark owners across the world seek to attain this status for their mark. It comes with advantages, such as gaining protection over classes of dissimilar goods or services for which the mark is registered or used and third party enterprise names. It also lowers the threshold for proving infringement.

Before China's signature of the TRIPs Agreement and its accession to the WTO, China's Trademark Law was still developing. Well-known trademarks were called famous marks and received preferential treatment with broader and easier protection. Domestic and foreign brand holders yearned to get their mark on the unpublished list of famous marks. In practice, a small percentage of international brand owners made it on to the list. Even now, protection of a trademark against squatters or third parties using the mark on dissimilar goods or services depends on the mark attaining this preferential status.