Unfair registration of EU producers’ trademarks by operators on the Chinese market

17.7.2020

Question for written answer E-004274/2020
to the Commission
Rule 138
Krzysztof Jurgiel (ECR)

Agricultural producers have reported that for some time now Chinese market operators have been registering EU trademarks on the Chinese market. This practice is extremely harmful for European producers. The problem affects food (and dairy) brands that are well known on the EU market.

China has a ‘first-to-file’ registration system in place, under which trademarks are prioritised according to the order in which they are registered. Those registered first are protected. This leads to unfair trading practices where Chinese operators register goods produced in the EU under their trademark on the Chinese market. This practice has become a source of revenue for many operators. Many EU food producers are affected by this problem (according to press reports in Poland, the dairy cooperatives Mlekpol and Mlekovita have been registered with the Chinese patent office by other operators), and it may result in the sale of EU products on the Chinese market being blocked.

Does the Commission have information on the use of this practice by China, and is it intending to take action to protect EU trademarks on the Chinese market so as to safeguard the interests of European producers?