This year a company called Proview managed to convince Apple to pay 60 million dollars to be able to use the iPad brand to sell its tablet in China. This is probably the most important case where a company in China has convinced an international brand to pay them money to be able to use a name for a product, but in general companies in that country use the names of other companies without right to sell counterfeit products .
China plans to change the law to crackdown on "malicious" trademark registrations, state media said on Monday, after a series of cases in which well-known international brands and individuals have had their names or copyright misused. Foreign governments, including the United States, have for years urged China to take a stronger stand against intellectual property rights violations on products ranging from medicines to software to DVD movies. Basketball legend Michael Jordan is one of the latest to accuse a company of using his name without permission, and French luxury group Hermes International SCA and Apple Inc have faced trademark problems too.
Chinese legislation regarding intellectual property does not give large companies the opportunity to protect their brands, but under international pressure China is intending to amends its legislation. In practice, the Chinese government could give large companies the opportunity to enforce their intellectual property rights in China, including the right to prohibit the sale of certain counterfeit products and confiscate those available on the market.
If the legislation will be applied, then iPhones and tablets with Android OS could become just a distant memory, the same being true for the products of other companies, and here we are not only referring to the electronic ones. No one knows when or if this legislation will be imposed, but many people are waiting for it with great interest.
