Courts in China have confirmed 187 brands as "well-known" trademarks between 2002 and October 2006. This had contributed much to protecting the interests of the trademark owners, a senior court official said Thursday.

The confirmation, based on the trademark law, aimed to provide a basis for the better protection of trademarks, said Cao Jianming, deputy head of the Supreme People's Court, at a meeting in Wuxi City, east China's Jiangsu Province.

Courts can recognize "well-known" trademarks when they deal with disputes relating to such trademarks being illegally copied, registered again for products of different categories or used in unfair competition, Cao explained.

Those registered as "well-known" would get special legal protection, he said, without giving details. He pointed out that "well-known" trademarks wouldn't be listed to improve their reputation or to advertise them but to facilitate case investigation and possible legal proceedings. .

Cao ordered courts to strictly check on trademark infringement cases, prevent anyone from seizing a "well-known" brand name and possibly deliberately creating a dispute.

Those concerned are required to provide proof of the popularity of their trademarks but courts could loosen control if the trademarks were widely known in the market, he said.

The crackdown on trademark infringement is part of China's fight against violations of intellectual property rights.

Statistics show that China busted 40,171 trademark infringement and counterfeiting cases in 2004 and 5,401 of them involved foreign trademarks. The number of trademark registrations has skyrocketed in the country since the enactment of the trademark law in 1982.

In 1983 less than 20,000 trademarks were registered on the Chinese mainland with only 1,687 foreign applications. By 2004 the number of applications reached 588,000 and made China the world leader in trademark registration.

(Xinhua News Agency January 19, 2007)