Hollywood stars hoping to capitalize on their brand in China should pay special attention to protecting their intellectual property.
The Boston-based hamburger chain Wahlburgers, founded by Hollywood star Mark Wahlberg and his brothers, recently announced plans to open three restaurants in China, with an ambitious goal of opening up to 100 restaurants in China over the next 10 years.
The project was announced as a joint venture between Wahlburgers and the Shanghai-based Cachet Hospitality Group. I have no opinion on the deal Wahlburgers struck (aside from a general lack of enthusiasm for joint ventures), but I do have an opinion about their trademark protection: they don’t have enough.
According to the Chinese Trademark Office website, the only trademark registration for “Wahlburgers” is in Class 43 for restaurants (餐馆). Yes, covering restaurant services is essential, but it’s really the bare minimum, and almost certainly won’t provide as much protection as Wahlburgers would want.
To understand why, it’s important to realize how the Chinese trademark system works. With few exceptions, a trademark registration for goods or services in a particular subclass only provides protection for that particular subclass. That’s a double-edged sword. It means that you don’t have to worry about your trademark being rejected because someone else has a confusingly similar trademark in another class (or even another subclass within the same class). But it also means that your trademark registration won’t prevent third parties from registering your exact trademark in other classes.
Here, Wahlburgers should have filed a trademark application to cover not only restaurants but also food. Their trademark registration prevents third parties from operating a restaurant called Wahlburgers, but has zero effect on anyone calling their hamburgers “Wahlburgers.” Moreover, anyone else could register the trademark “Wahlburgers” to cover hamburgers and other food, and then use the tagline “Home of the Wahlburgers®” on their menu and in their advertising. I’m sure that wouldn’t sit well with the Wahlbergs or with their Chinese partners.
It’s possible Wahlburgers was under an actual or imputed contractual constraint, as the US registration for “Wahlburgers” had already been licensed from Tom Wahl’s, a Rochester, NY-based hamburger chain whose website proudly proclaims it is “Home of the Wahlburger®.” But any dispute about who had the right to file trademark applications in China should have been sorted out quietly before holding a press conference to announce that Wahlburgers would be opening branches in Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Wuhan. If Chinese trademark squatters haven’t already filed applications for Wahlburgers to cover hamburgers and other food, they will soon.
It’s 2017. American companies going to China need to get their trademark act together. When you’re filing for trademarks in China, don’t think that the same rules apply as in the United States. Operate within the system as it actually is, not as you think it ought to be.
— This article originally appeared on China Law Blog.
