China to raise fines for trademark infringement

China is expected to raise the compensation ceiling for trademark infringement to 3 million yuan (about 490,000 U.S. dollars), six times the current limit, lawmakers said Monday. In cases of infringement, compensation of up to 3 million yuan shall be paid to the holders of trademark rights, according to the draft amendment to the Trademark Law, tabled for a third reading at the ongoing bimonthly session of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature. The first draft amendment set the compensation ceiling at 1 million yuan, up from 500,000 yuan under the current law, while the second reading in June raised it to 2 million yuan. The move aims to better protect exclusive trademark rights and further crack down on infringement, said Xie Jingrong, deputy head of the NPC's law committee, at the session which runs Monday to Friday. China adopted its Trademark Law in 1982 and made amendments in 1993 and 2001. As of June 2012, China held the world's largest number of registered trademarks and valid trademark registrations, at 7.17 million and 6.09 million respectively, according to the most recent official statistics.