The China Industrial and Commercial Administration at various levels is going to kick off and carry on for one year a special rectification campaign this year for the protection of the registered trademarks with the emphasis laid on offering protection to the well-known trademarks and those of overseas. To achieve the purpose heavy hand is going to be laid on cases of trademark violation and forgery, thereby offering a further and strengthened protection to them.

Over the past 20 years, eye-catching achievements have been made in the cause for the protection of trademarks in China. In the initial days of the reform and opening to the outside world the annual application for trademark registration came only to a bit more than 20,000 in number. But in 2004 the applications for trademark registration almost reached some 600,000 in all with the application volumes to approach to the forefront of the world. And by the end of last year, we witnessed the trademark registration number to have gone up to 2.24 million in China.

According to the statistics, in 2004, the cases of violation and forgery of trademarks investigated, examined and handled by China Industrial and Commercial Administrations at all levels came to a total of over 40,000 cases, an increase of over 50 percent as against that in 2003, of which that involved with trademarks of overseas numbered 5401 cases with 82 suspects handed over to be looked into.

By People's Daily Online