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The International Trade Commission will hold an oral hearing in Certain Carbon and Alloy Steel in April. This is only the second oral argument granted in nearly 10 years, following one in November last year

The Federal Circuit has upheld patents disclosing a system of sensors affixed to a helmet under Section 101, in its Thales Visionix v United States ruling

What will happen to EU trade marks and registered Community designs when the UK leaves the EU? That's a complicated question, but a lot of work is going on to address it

Original Equipment Manufacturing or OEM is the business model that is used when a trademark owner is "sourcing", i.e., looking for a factory to manufacture its products, using its trademark. China is one of the most favoured countries by business operators sourcing OEM products. If you are one of them and want to ensure the safe exportation of the OEM products, is there anything you need to do? And if, assuming you do not own a registration of the trademark in China, you want to prevent others from registering such trademark, can you rely on your prior OEM export business?

In principle, you should use your registered trademark in your business exactly as it is registered. However, sometimes, for various reasons (change of the brand image, suit the needs of the market in a certain area, etc.), you may actually be using a variant of the registered trademark. Is there a risk?

In China, the cease and desist letter is commonly used to warn infringers. Experience showed that you may have 50% of chance to get a reply to your cease and desist letter. The cease and desist letter usually works well with straightforward counterfeit case and against small infringers. When it comes to complicated case and big infringer, it is critical that you carefully evaluate the risk of being sued before sending out the cease and desist letter.

In China, just like in most countries, registration is the quickest and cheapest means to get trademark protection: just 9 months and 100 $. Normally, you have no reason not to register if you really want to be protected.

In China, a trademark application can be directly filed with the China Trademark Office (CTMO) or be extended to China via the Madrid system. Which one is better? Both have their pros and cons but in the end, it seems that the national application might have a little more advantages.

In China, if you want to find a McDonald's store and ask for directions saying "McDonald's", you may probably get nowhere. However, if you say "Mai-Dang-Lao", which is the Chinese transliteration of McDonald's, then you will immediately be directed to the closest shop. This example shows why it is essential to file a trademark in Chinese language in China.

When registering a trademark, it is essential to provide the exact description of the goods and services to be designated by the trademark. This determines the protection scope of the registered trademark and also, can be a protection against possible future non-use attacks. However, due to the complexity of the sub-class system adopted by the CTMO and to the Examiner's attitude when examining trademark applications, which is sometimes capricious and rigid, it is not always easy to select the right goods and services. Yet, the description must be accurate and specific.