On February 18, the Supreme Court of China declares the Regulation on Civil Disputes Concerning Conflicts between Registered Trademark or Company Name and Prior Right, and clarifies accepting standards and law application for civil disputes between registered trademark or company name and prior right.

According the regulation, courts should accept the cases if the plaintiff lodges a complaint because a word or graph infringes his copyright, design patent right, enterprise's name or other prior rights, and the complaint meets the requirement of Article 108 of the Civil Suit Law of China.

If plaintiff lodges a complaint because someone uses the trademark on ratified merchandise same or similar with his trademark registered prior to that, the court should, according to the Article 111 of the Civil Suit Law, inform the plaintiff to apply to the relevant administrative department.

However, the court should accept the complaint if the plaintiff lodges a complaint because someone's trademark same or similar with his trademark by using the trademark out of his ratified merchandise, amending its marked feature, splitting or combining its basic elements.

The court should accept the complaint if the plaintiff takes judicial proceedings against those having same or similar enterprise's name which will make the public confused with his own product, and violate Article 5 of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law, and in line with the requirement of Article 108 of the Civil Suit Law.

The document also says that the court should adopt the proper laws after determining the cause of action of these kinds of cases according to the Regulation on Cause of Action of Civil Cases and the relation between nature of the complaint and civil law. 

If the defendant infringes a registered trademark or compose unfair competition, the court should ask the defendant to stop its infringement or to use it legally.

The Regulation, passed in the 1444th Meeting of Judicial Committee the China Supreme Court, will take effect on March 1, 2008.