CPA Wins Multiple CTA Awards for Thematic Research on Frontier Issues in Chinese Trademark Law 2023

Recently, the China Trademark Association (CTA) announced the results of the Awards for Thematic Research on Frontier Issues in Chinese Trademark Law 2023 ("the Awards"). China Patent Agent (H.K.) Ltd. (CPA) is glad to share that our trademark team's active participation in the research project and its research deliverables after a year's collaborative efforts earned us three awards, namely, the special award, a first prize, and a second prize.

The said research project was initiated in January 2023 by the CTA, which, after thoroughly reviewing the core topics in connection with the Chinese trademark law, decided on 38 thematic clusters for prolonged, in-depth studies. About 230-plus industry experts from member entities, universities and research institutions were then mobilised to set up teams and carry out research on the thematic clusters, which cover the topics of non-conventional trademarks, well-known trademarks, geographical indications, trademark co-existence, goods and services classification, malicious trademark registration, trademark infringement, parallel imports, and international trademark registration, among others.

Our firm engaged in the research of several themes. CPA deputy general manager Mr. Hu Gang co-led the "geographical indications" team, and won the special award for "The Law of Geographical Indications", a book edited by him together with his team members. CPA Trademark Department attorney Ms. Du Shanshan joined two thematic clusters, namely, "trademark bad-faith registration" and "trademark coexistence". Research collaboration of the former produced "A Research Report on the Application of Article 4 of the Trademark Law", which won a first prize, and the latter gave rise to "A Study on the Current Situation of Trademark Coexistence and Conditional Acceptance of Coexistence Agreements", which was awarded the second prize.

Among this year's 40-plus deliverables, 1 special award, 3 first prizes, 4 second prizes, and 5 third prizes were presented. The winning pieces were selected by a panel of 12 industry veterans based on the originality, methodology, academic value, and practical significance of the research work.