While we are generally pleased with official fee cuts with regard to intellectual property matters, the decision by the Chinese authorities to reduce official fees by 50% on 1 April 2017, in particular for trademark filings, appears to be bad news, in our view, as it is likely to increase the number of fraudulent trademark filings in this country.

It is therefore essential to ensure, with your usual trademark attorney, that you have adequate protection in China in terms of signs, classes and local subclasses, or even consider defensive filings in classes other than those of your usual interest.

The legal team at Santarelli.