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Olympic Squatters: applications caught and stopped
by Peggy Tong
While the Games of the XXXII Olympiad has already ended in Tokyo on August 8, 2021, the trademark legal battles consequent to such mega-event have just started. On this HFG channel, we have already expressed several times that whatever happen in the world which is attracting media attention has a reflex into the CNIPA’s register. It is definitely true that Trademark system has greatly improved in recent years, however squatters are still in operation.
Yang Qian reacts after winning the gold medal in the women's 10-meter air rifle at the Asaka Shooting Range in the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics, July 24. (AP-Yonhap)
Thanks also to the fact that the Chinese delegation ranked second in the medal list with 38 gold medals, 32 silver medals and 18 bronze medals, many impressive athletes aroused attention thanks to their wonderful performance, such as Yang Qian, who won the first Olympic gold medal and studies in Tsinghua University and Chen Meng, the champion of women’s table tennis singles.
At the same time, while the entire nation was literally glued on the screen to follow the athletes' performances, squatters looked at the same screen with equal attention but very different intention. They regarded it as a business opportunity and scrambled to file an application for trademark registration with the Chinese National Intellectual Property Administration (“CNIPA”).
Quan Hongchan of China competes during the women’s 10m platform final of diving at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, Aug. 5, 2021.
(Ding Xu/Xinhua via Getty Images)
Taking Quan Hongchan as an example, it can be seen from the official website of the CNIPA that since August 5, there have been 34 registration applications to register Quan Hongchan as a trademark. Quan is the champion of women’s 10m dive platform, who grabbed everyone’s eyes by her full marks and childish language. The discussion and popularity of the Olympic champions can save a large amount of marketing and publicity expenses for enterprises, while malicious registrants expect to obtain high payment by hoarding and then transferring these trademarks.
On August 18, the Chinese Olympic Committee published important tips on its microblog, and issued important news on the recent malicious application for trademark registration of the names of Olympic athletes.
In the notification it is mentioned that “Every subjects shall be rational in carrying relevant business activities, respect the legitimate rights and interests of athletes and abide by relevant laws and regulations such as the
Then on August 19, China National Intellectual Property Administration issued a notice to reject 109 trademark registration applications such as Yang Qian, Chen Meng and Quan Hongchan, according to law.
