China Law: The Podcast Edition.
Posted by Dan on March 3, 2009 at 06:15 AM
Earlier this week, I participated in a most interesting podcast on China with Britain's most famous, most controversial, and most beloved law blogger, Charon QC. I used to always say that if and when I am ever reincarnated, I want to come back as a QC. Now I am thinking I would just settle for having a sophisticated British accent like Charon QC and the ability to write about my quasi-fictional self in the third person like this. cool whil.
Go here for the interview.
What do you think?
Oh and for all you numerologists, what meaning should be drawn from the fact this was podcast #111 and the number of the house in which I grew up was 111?
Comments
The number thing means you are going to be an emu in your next life.
Posted by: Matt | March 3, 2009 6:38 AM
I was thinking it was a plain old common-or-garden sign of the devil or something, but I'll go with Matt on this.
FYI unregistered UK trademarks can be protected by:
1) The tort of 'passing off' (e.g., someone passing off their own sub-standard goods as being the goods of a higher quality producer). This only works where the person doing the 'passing off' has not yet registered a mark.
2) Where someone registers a mark, the registration may be challenged.
3) Where someone has successfully registered the mark, the exception under prior use may be relied on. Unfortunately, anyone relying on this may be restricted to a certain geographical area, or to a certain level of production.
It is always much more simple and cheap to register first and early - the UK, the US, and China are not really all that different.
Something you might want to keep an eye on, but it should be remembered that the mainland, HK, and Macao are theoretically supposed to compose a single market - will an intellectual property framework similar to that in the EU come in? Taiwan is also in the process of entering into a Economic Co-operation Framework Agreement (ECFA - formerly called CEFA) - could a single system of trademark protection covering both Taiwan and Mainland China be on the distant horizon?
Likewise, given the high level of regional variation involved, further applications for recognition of geographical indicators (GIs - the most famous example being 'Champagne') are bound to be used.
Posted by: FOARP | March 3, 2009 1:58 PM