Professor Friedmann was invited by Mister Hugues Derème, Deputy Director General of BOIP to give a presentation on 'Trademark Law With Chinese Characteristics' at the Benelux Office for Intellectual Property (BOIP) in The Hague, the Netherlands on 2 May 2023. After introducing PKU STL, Professor Friedmann gave an overview of the most important provisions of China's Trademark Law of 1982, and the Amendments of 1993, 2001, 2013 and 2019. Then, Professor Friedmann took a closer look at the draft of the Fifth Amendment, which was proposed in January 2023. Subsequently, Professor Friedmann provided an analysis of the Michael Jordan and the Hermès cases, respectively, and the importance of specific language issues in China for foreign companies; from translations, transcriptions in Chinese characters and transcriptions in Pinyin, and hybrids. The last part of Professor Friedmann's presentation highlighted the advantages of the "unconventional" three-dimensional trademark that reigns over a language free-zone.
Professor Friedmann visited BOIP to do research on regional integration of trademark systems and the institute BOIP. The BOIP is an organization with international legal personality and immunity, and is responsible for the registration of trademarks and designs in Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg. Professor Friedmann spoke with the experts of BOIP, including Messrs. Tomas Westenbroek, Diter Wuytens and Peter Veeze. The latter gave a stellar presentation to Professor Friedmann about the integration process of the trademark systems of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, transition rules from the national systems to one regional system, costs and benefits for multinational companies versus small and medium-sized enterprises, and how the Benelux Trademark distinguishes itself from the European Union Trademark, and how BOIP implemented the Trademarks Act for Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba under the authority of the National Office for the Caribbean.
In addition, Professor Friedmann did research on Dutch historical (pre-Benelux) trademarks at the National Archive in The Hague.
