Pharmaceutical Trademark Protection In China

The rise in IP litigation involving pharmaceutical trademarks, generic drug names and commodity names suggests that rights holders would do well to develop a trademark strategy for their pharmaceutical products in line with other aspects of IP protection. This is all the more crucial given that registered trademarks benefit from 10 years of protection and unlimited renewals – unlike patents, they can essentially enjoy permanent protection.

Registering pharmaceutical trademarks

Article 12 of the Quality Standard for Pharmaceutical Commodities (Trial Implementation, 1984) states that pharmaceuticals should have registered trademarks. Further, Article 27 of the Provisions of Pharmaceutical Direction and Labels (2006) prohibits pharmaceutical directions and labels from using unregistered trademarks or unapproved commodity names.