Recently, the Market Supervision and Administration Bureau of Chongqing investigated a trademark agency and six registered trademark applicants who were found to have engaged in malicious trademark registration. This is the first gang crime committed for malicious trademark registration in the city’s record.  

In September 2022, the Market Supervision and Administration Bureau of Rongchang District, Chongqing City, received a letter of transfer from the National Intellectual Property Administration and the Chongqing Intellectual Property Administration, reporting problems related to trademark agency and several affiliated companies in the jurisdiction. The Bureau immediately launched a comprehensive investigation into the reported individuals.

According to investigations, ever since 2018, the trademark agency has continuously applied for the registration of 173 malicious trademarks for use by six affiliated companies. The legal representatives and shareholders of the six affiliated companies are all friends or relatives of the legal representative of the trademark agency. These affiliated companies have not conducted actual business operations since their registration. Three of these affiliated companies are foreign registered companies, which have registered similar companies in foreign countries with the names of prior rights holders, translated them into Chinese companies with the same names as the prior rights holders in China, and then used these companies to apply for registration of trademarks that have already been registered by prior rights holders. The purpose of these malicious trademark registrations is clear.

In December 2022, the Bureau determined that the actions of the agency, who knowingly applied for trademark registration for malicious purposes on behalf of its clients, constitute a violation of Article 4.1.1 of the Regulations for Standardizing Trademark Application and Registration Behavior. As a result, the agency was warned and fined. 

In addition, the legal representative of the trademark agency, who is also directly responsible for malicious trademark registration, was investigated by the Bureau and was given a warning and a fine in accordance with Article 13 of the Regulations on Standardizing Trademark Application and Registration Behavior. Six related enterprises were also given warnings in accordance with Article 12 of the same regulations.