NOT MADE IN CHINA

The People’s Daily Online reports on the furore surrounding an application for three Community trade marks containing the term NOT MADE IN CHINA. The mark has been branded ‘discriminatory’ against Chinese products and a disgrace to Chinese dignity. OHIM is expected to make a decision on registrability in about a year’s time.

The IPKat says that the mark is certainly not deceptive. Is it contrary to public policy though? Perhaps more interestingly, is a mark which tells consumers about the qualities that goods do not have descriptive? Often the answer must be yes (e.g. CONTAINS NO CARBS) but is a mark truly descriptive where it tells consumers that goods do not have a quality which they would not expect the goods to have in any event. For example, would a registration of DOES NOT CONTAIN ELEPHANTS be descriptive of chocolate?

View the applied for mark here