If you do business in China, are you protected?

See Chinese version below.

As a new trademark law goes into effect today in China, this is a good time to evaluate your level of protection. If you do business in China or plan to, there are a few things you should know. Even if your company name, slogan, logo, or product names are registered in the United States, you should separately register your trademarks in China.

Chinese trademark rights are given to the first company to register a mark, regardless of who used the mark first. There are many instances where Chinese companies have registered the marks of U.S. companies. If someone else registers your mark in China, you could be prevented from not only selling into China but also from exporting branded merchandise out of China if you manufacture there. One benefit of the new trademark law is that your contractual business partners like distributors or manufacturers are now prohibited from registering your mark out from under you. Even so, the prohibitions only protect the original brand owner in limited circumstances, and it may be costly to try to recover a hijacked brand.

Ultimately, the best defense is a good offense. If you want to do business in China, it is advisable to proactively register your trademarks. We can assist you in developing an international trademark strategy, global clearance searches, and registration.
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Jennifer concentrates her practice on designing and implementing intellectual property protection plans, enforcing intellectual property assets, and drafting and negotiating software licenses and a variety of technology agreements. She prosecutes trademark and copyright registration applications and handles domain name and Internet content disputes, as well as negotiates and drafts contracts that implicate intellectual property or technology rights.

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在中国做生意，您的品牌得到保护了吗？

中国工商行政管理总局颁布的新的商标法将于今天在中国生效，此时是评估您的品牌是否得到保护的最佳时机。如果您已经在中国做生意或计划在中国做生意，那么商标注册是至关重要的。即使您公司的名称，口号，徽标或产品名称已经在美国商标局进行了商标注册，您也应该分别在中国工商行政管理总局注册商标。

在中国，商标所有权被授予第一家注册商标的公司，无论这家公司是否在使用此商标。 有许多中国公司抢先注册美国公司商标的先例。如果别人在中国抢先注册了您的商标，您将不能把产品销售到中国，同时，很有能您在中国生产的产品也将不能被运出中国。今天生效的新商标法的一个好处是，您公司的签署过合同的业务合作伙伴，如分销商或制造商等将被禁止注册您的商标。即便如此，该禁令仅能在有限的情况下保护原有品牌的拥有者，而且，试图恢复被抢先注册品牌的所有权可能是非常昂贵的。
所以，最好的策略将是第一时间在中国对您的品牌进行商标注册。如果您想在中国做生意，我们建议您提前注册商标。我们可以协助您开发一个国际商标战略，并进行全球商标搜索和注册。
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As a native Chinese speaker and writer, Connie effectively counsels both foreign and domestic clients. She concentrates her practice in the areas of intellectual property law and health care law. She is a registered U.S. patent attorney with medical and life science experience who focuses on patent prosecution and counseling in the areas of biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, medical device and life sciences.