【Professional Lesson】
Interpretation of Standards for Suspension of Trademark Review Cases
On August 17, 2023, the seventh professional training of ZY IP Team in 2023 was held as scheduled. The training was hosted by Lawyer Wang Shanshan, lectured by Laywer Mo Qiang. The partners, Ms. Li Xiaohong and Ms. Liu Mengling, participated in the meeting and more than 20 people, including senior/junior lawyers, paralegals and legal secretaries attended the training.
During the training, the speaker primarily provided an analysis and interpretation of the "Standards for Suspension of Trademark Review Cases” (hereinafter referred to as the "Standards") recently issued by CNIPA. On the one hand, the speaker re-interpreted the Standards from the perspectives of implementation background, specific contents, and impacts on daily handling of cases. On the other hand, the speaker offered insights into how to determine and apply the ten specific situations of cases "shall be suspended" and "may be suspended" listed in the Standards. Attendees carried out in-depth discussions and explorations on these matters.
Firstly, the speaker provided a brief overview of the Standards, covering its hierarchy, effectiveness, scope of application, formulation rationale and considerations, etc. The speaker pointed out that the Standards is an internal working guideline for the trademark review and adjudication department of the CNIPA. Its effect lies in guiding and constraining the CNIPA reviewers in handling trademark review cases, which is not a legal basis or peremptory norm that can be directly invoked. However, the Standards can serve as an important guideline for handling relevant trademark review cases, providing more predictability to certain cases.
Then, the speaker specifically elaborated the principle of necessity when applying suspension with examples. That means the suspension of proceedings shall only be applied in situations where the determination of prior rights or the results and handling of the relevant cases have a substantial impact on the results of the current case. Regarding the “substantive impact" demanded by the principle of necessity, the speaker noted that there is room for different interpretations, and conclusions might differ from different perspectives. Nonetheless, lawyers should be active to claim a suspension, and make full use of these standards to benefit the clients as possible.
Towards the end of this training, the speaker raised an extended question: whether the Standards could be referentially applied to trademark opposition cases, which triggered a lively discussion among the attendees. In addition, the lawyers also discussed the issue of timeline limitation for reviewing the cases.
In addition to regular IP training, Lawyer Tian Yu also provided corrections and explanations regarding issues related to English Email Writing. Our firm will continue to hold similar internal training sessions on a regular basis, so that we can share experiences, learn together, and eventually improve the overall working competence of the team to provide excellent and professional services to our clients.
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