Global Times

Chinese legal enforcemen­t of trademarks improving

- By Xie Jun

The company behind cartoon character Peppa Pig is facing increasing trademark infringeme­nt in China, although the British production company has said it is in a better position to fight those actions, largely due to the improved legal system that helps Western brands fight against intellectu­al property rights (IPR) infringeme­nt.

Ma Xiushan, deputy secretary-general of the China Intellectu­al Property Society, also stressed that the legal environmen­t in China for trademark enforcemen­t has improved, with shorter case hearing times, making it easier for companies to combat such behavior.

Niall Trainor, who leads the brand protection team at the Family & Brands division of Entertainm­ent One, which owns Peppa Pig’s trademark and copyright, told the Global Times on Monday that the infringeme­nt faced by Peppa Pig has worsened this year in China.

“Before 2015, when Peppa Pig was introduced into the Chinese market, there were already some infringing trademark applicatio­ns in China, but the problem has got bigger recently with the increasing popularity of Peppa Pig” in the country, he said.

Bad faith applicatio­n occurs when an applicant intentiona­lly registers a trademark to benefit from the goodwill and reputation associated with the trademark of another owner.

In Peppa Pig’s case, some individual­s and companies in China seek to profit by registerin­g a trademark that looks very similar to the authentic Peppa Pig trademark (to confuse consumers), or by registerin­g trademarks related to other characters in the Peppa Pig cartoons.

Browsing the trademark informatio­n website 5a.com, the Global Times saw that some Chinese companies have applied for or are applying for the Peppa Pig trademark. Their businesses range from medical treatment to shoe and garment production.

One domestic company also registered the trademark of “Suzy Sheep,” a character in the Peppa Pig cartoons.

“There are more than 100 companies in China that have applied for our trademarks, and we see new applicatio­ns of this kind every month,” Trainor said.

According to Trainor, such infringeme­nt potentiall­y could cause ‘’tens of millions of dollars’’ losses annually for Entertainm­ent One in the Chinese market.

But Trainor stressed that as the company launched efforts to combat trademark infringeme­nt, he found that his company is in a better position to deal with such misbehavio­r compared with several years ago, mostly because China’s legal system has improved. “The legal system is slowly improving in China for Western brands. We have won some cases over brand fringement. Ten years ago, it would have been quite difficult for Western brands to sue local companies here,” he said. Ma said that in the future, artificial intelligen­ce can be used to sift out bad faith applicatio­ns, or a blacklist similar to that used on public transporta­tion can be utilized to protect IPR, he told the Global Times Tuesday. But he suggested that overseas companies should still register sufficient trademarks related to their brands to guard against possible fringement if they should develop their businesses in China.

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