Since the rise of mobile commerce, sales and promotional campaigns are no longer confined to third party e-commerce and social media platforms, and to many brands, the new battlefield is now the brands' mobile apps. Mobile apps have nowadays gone beyond as platforms providing information on the brands and their products, but often as key tools to the brands' loyalty programmes, online sales and interaction with customers.
The brand's mobile app is an important intellectual property asset and brand owners should be mindful of protecting their mobile apps through trademark, copyright and patent applications when entering the Chinese market. We will discuss below common issues faced by brand owners when striving to protect the intellectual property rights of their mobile apps in Mainland China.
I. TRADEMARK PROTECTION
1. What should I register as trademarks?
Brand owners should seek trademark protection of the key elements of their mobile apps, including the app names (abbreviate / alias), app icons, avatars and other distinctive names, signs and symbols used in relation to the app.
For foreign brands launching apps in English or foreign language, it may be also worth registering Chinese language marks for your mobile app names to prevent infringers from free-riding on your reputation and fame.
2. What if my mobile app name is too suggestive?
A lot of mobile app names contain slogans and general positive connotations, or are suggestive of the goods / services in question. The Chinese National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) may consider such names as non-distinctive and / or descriptive, and not registrable as a trademark.
