The modern Chinese trademark laws were constructed through the interactions of various Chinese and foreign state and non-state actors. On the one hand, they were largely adapted from the Japanese or British system and the foreign advisors and the Powers’ agents participated actively throughout legislation whereby the legal transplantation took place. On the other hand, the legislation caused disputes over twenty years not only between Chinese and foreigners, but also between the interested Powers, and between foreign merchants and their agents in China. From the perspective of the foreign mercantile communities in China, this paper investigates trademark legislation and foreign trademark protection in the late Qing and early Republican China. It aims to reveal the complexities and conflicts caused by legal pluralism within the extraterritorial system in the society of nations. The promulgation of the Law of 1923 came about as a result of the Post-war Washington Conference context and the Chinese Government realized the centralization of administration on trademark matters. The recognition of the first Chinese Trademark Law by the Powers in 1926 implied foreigners’ surrender of extraterritorial rights in dealing with all trademark disputes in China while it was not until 1943 that the extraterritoriality was abolished in China. It argued that the principle involved in Chinese trademark legislation savored more of treaty rights than of commercial law. The Chinese trademark legislation, and by extension, modern legal reform, was intertwined with foreign intervention as well as the domestic struggle against the extraterritorial system since the early twentieth century.

Authors:
Qing Chen, University of Warwick, United Kingdom

About the Presenter(s)
Ms QING CHEN is a University Doctoral Student at University of Warwick in United Kingdom

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