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Prof. Jyh-An LEE’s work was cited by the UK High Court of Justice

Posted on 12 April, 2019

Prof. Jyh-An LEE’s paper “Post-Application Evidence of Bad Faith in China’s Trademark Law” co-authored with Dr. Hui HUANG published in the Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, Vol. 13(5), (Oxford University Press, 2018) was cited by the UK High Court of Justice in Trump International Limited v. DTTM Operations LLC [2019] EWHC 769 (Ch).

The case concerned the company “Trump International”, which applied to register the words “TRUMP TV” as a UK trade mark. Because “Trump International” had no connection with the US President Donald Trump, a key issue was whether the company’s trade mark application was made in bad faith. An opposition was brought by the DTTM which holds and administers trade mark registrations previously owned by President Donald Trump. The UK High Court of Justice (Chancery Div.) has upheld the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) decision siding with DTTM and finding that “Trump International” had filed its trademark application in bad faith. A lengthy part of the decision was about evidence of bad-faith registration, which was the theme of Prof. Lee’s paper. The paper was also the only academic work cited in this court decision.

The court decision is available here.