The General Office of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce ("SAIC") has recently issued the Special Action Plan for Cracking down on Trademark Infringements and Looking into Their Sources (the "Plan").
The Plan calls for effectively cooperating with right owners, industry associations, e-commerce platforms and other related parties in stepping up efforts to trace sources of trademark infringement cases involving well-known trademarks, geographical indications, foreign-related trademarks and time-honored trademarks in particular, in a bid to fight against all illegal practices at different stages throughout the complete chain, including the production and sale of commodities that infringe upon other trademarks and the production of labels for registered trademarks. In addition, the Plan states that materials containing clues collected and reported by all places should be detailed and comprehensive, and the ownership of trademarks held by relevant parties is clear, and the ways to contact individuals in charge of rights protection are made open; also, information on alleged infringers should be comprehensive and particulars about the place where the alleged infringement takes place and the alleged infringer's use of marks in question should be complete as well. Furthermore, the Plan clearly specifies that the special campaign, designed to fight against trademark infringements and probe into their sources, starts from September this year within the system for industry and commerce and will last until February 2018.