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March 17, 2006
Trademark Squatters May Have Already Stolen Your Name
A March 7 article on CNNMoney.com, which I found helpful, advises US companies who plan on doing business with China in any capacity to immediately trademark all of their brand names in that country.
Chinese name hijackers are trolling about looking for brand names they can quickly trademark taking advantage of China’s "first to file system" regarding trademarks. The problem is compounded by the fact that many US companies are unaware that there is simply no such thing as an internationally recognized trademark.
As you may recall, I discussed in October 2005 and January 2006, the challenges Starbucks is having in China protecting its trademark and logo and the many thousands of dollars in legal fees associated with this.
The phenomenon of stealing product names is a throwback to the well known scam of cybersquatting, where unsavoury computer geeks snapped up well known product and company names, added a .com and registered them, forcing the real companies to buy back their own domains at inflated prices. A typical name trademark in China will set you back about $1000. I consider that a good move.
For some additional information about trademarking and squatting, visit Peter Levine's blog post, which I find very insightful and detailed.
Technorati Tags: Trademarking, Trademark Squatting, Cybersquatting , Product Names
Posted by William Lozito at March 17, 2006 10:55 AM
Posted to Beverages
| Branding
| Company Naming
| Naming
| Product Naming
| Trademarking
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Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Trademark Squatters May Have Already Stolen Your Name:
» Prevent Domain Name Squatting from Cheap Internet Domain Name Registration
So if you're starting a business, better fly to China and register your trademark before any squatter races ahead. While trademark squatting in China is easier to manage, cyber squatting is more difficult to control. Things work more freely in the web, a [Read More]
Tracked on July 17, 2006 11:22 PM
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