According to the recent data released by the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC), by October 7, 2015, 10,040,000 trademarks had been effectively registered in China, exceeding ten million for the first time ever, and China won the first place in terms of the number of applications filed for trademark registration. From the time when the amended Trademark Law entered into force to September, 2015, the total number of applications filed for trademark registration reached 17,641,700 and that of trademarks registered 11,762,900. So far, China has been leading the world in this aspect for the past 13 consecutive years. By the end of August this year, Chinese trademarks under Madrid international registration had totaled 19,590. Some renowned Chinese businesses stepped up their efforts to internationalize their brands by way of overseas merger and acquisition, as was the case with Lenovo acquiring and incorporating IBM’s PC operation and Geely purchasing Volve. However, Chinese internationally competitive famous brands are few, and exported products of China’s own brands take up only 11%. As a case in point, only 4 Chinese brands were listed in the World Top 500 Brands the World Brands Lab first released in 2004. By 2014, 29 had been put in the List. Undoubtedly, China is now a trademark power, with its own trademarks and brands very much increased in terms of value and competitiveness. This, however, is not compatible with its position as the world second largest economy, and there is much room for the trademarks to play their role in serving the economy and in boosting corporate developments. Besides, more efforts are needed for further enhancing the protection of the trademark rights and interests, and there is still a long way to go for China to be an even stronger trademark power.

(Source: the China Industry and Commerce News)