In the news: Sound trademarks, the NDRC's new investigation and SPC judgments go online

July 05, 2013 | BY

clpstaff &clp articles

The latest draft of the Trademark Law before the NPC includes sound trademarks. The NDRC has announced an investigation into six baby formula producers and the SPC has started posting judgments online

Trademark Law may include sounds

China Daily reported that the latest draft of the Trademark Law put before the National People's Congress this week includes sound marks. This would allow companies to register familiar tunes as audio trademarks. If approved, the amendment would mean that for the first time the requirements that trademarks must be visual are removed.

Source: China Daily

There are so many issues with the Law and the trademark regime. Owners are unlikely to be impressed by this move when bad faith filing and enforcement actions plague their IP strategy. Perhaps the best thing to come out of this story is that the Law is before the NPC. Market participants have already waited seven years for the Law to be passed – it is about time a final version was approved and put into effect.

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