Empirical Research on Judicial Protection of Trademarks of Traditional Chinese Medicine

Abstract

This study retrieves 90 relevant cases of TCM trademarks in the past five years and systematically and comprehensively analyzes the specific situation of current judicial practice in protecting TCM trademarks from seven aspects: time, case categories, dispute type, regional distribution, court level, litigation subject, and case result. We find that the key issues include: time-honored TCM brands and well-known trademarks being heavily affected by infringement, weak trademark awareness of TCM enterprises, uncertain compensation standards, and low compensation amounts. It proposes measures such as strengthening special protection, enhancing legal popularization to encourage operators to take the initiative to learn the law, and strengthening judicial application to increase punitive damages. In conclusion, strengthening the legal protection of TCM is an inevitable requirement in today’s society ruled by law. In particular, strengthening the protection of trademarks of well-known TCM brands plays a key role in protecting traditional medicine.