Region: China

The Shaolin Temple in Henan Province has set up a company to try and protect its SHAOLIN TEMPLE trademark in China as well as abroad. Many of the disputes are with former monks of the temple who have been using the trademark to market their on-the-road kung fu shows.

22 November 2002

China has implemented new legislation in relation to country-code top-level domain names, including the China Internet Network Information Centre Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy and Rules. Unlike previous legislation, these apply to both Latin script and Chinese character domain names in the '.cn' domain space.

18 November 2002

The Chinese government will allow businesses outside China to register domain names in the '.cn' country-code top-level domain from December. This will give foreign companies an opportunity to tap into China's fast-growing population of internet users.

11 November 2002

The Ministry of Information Technology has promulgated a set of new regulations - the Management Method of China Internet Domain Names - which will ease registration restrictions for '.cn' domain names and make the whole process faster. The new regulations will come into effect at the end of this month.

27 September 2002

A Chinese court has ruled that the China Internet Network Information Centre, the administrator for the country-code top-level domain, may not reserve Chinese domain names for companies that are well known. Rather, it must treat all applicants equally.

01 February 2002

A Beijing court has ruled in favour of 11 multinational companies, including KFC, Boss, UPS, Loreal, Dow and Subway, against two Chinese cybersquatters. The court ordered the de-registration of the domain names, a public apology and punitive damages.

07 December 2001

The Ministry of Information Industry has issued a statement setting out the way in which bad-faith acts involving domain names should be handled. If someone applies to register a domain name, but does not submit formal application documents or the registration fee within 30 days, the application will be denied.

04 December 2001

The Supreme People's Court has issued guidelines that provide courts with objective standards for the trial of domain name disputes. However, foreign trademark owners that have not yet started doing business in the country may find it difficult to protect their marks.

24 October 2001

A landmark decision involving Ikea sends a positive message to ownersof valuable brands wishing to extend their operations into China. Combined withChina's efforts to implement dispute resolution and enforcement procedures thatare in line with those of ICANN, this development is certain to encourage commercialactivity in the country. Connie Carnabuci and Minny Siu of Mallesons Stephen Jaquesin Hong Kong explain.

05 June 2001