Beijing courts said they would intensify efforts to protect intellectual property rights, especially trademarks, after a rise of IP-related cases over the past year. In 2018 courts across the capital filed 59,094 IP civil and administrative disputes, up 43 percent year-on-year according to statistics released by the Beijing High People's Court on Wednesday. Last year, for example, Beijing IP Court handled a trademark dispute about "DiDiDiDiDiDi" between Tencent Technology and the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce. It is the country's first case concerning sound trademarks. After the hearing, the IP court gave a verdict in favor of Tencent, ruling that the sound "DiDiDiDiDiDi" designed by the company could be registered as a trademark to use. To more effectively safeguard trademarks, the Beijing High People's Court also issued a guideline on hearing trademark-related civil and administrative cases on Wednesday. The guideline aims to push administrations to improve efficiency in reviewing trademarks and gives more protection to legitimate trademarks by preventing people who register trademarks with "malicious intent".

Source: China Daily