China’s ‘AmCham’ trademark case sheds light on Beijing’s intellectual property protection progress

Edward Lehman never thought that the three registrations he made with China’s Trademark Office for US$300 in 1998 could ever get lost, nor could he imagine he would then be embroiled in a decade-long legal dispute to win them back.

When the US-born lawyer followed the steps of tens of thousands of American businessman who came to China in the 1980s, intellectual property was only a vague concept unfamiliar to the vast majority of Chinese businessmen and officials.

Pirated movies and music were easily available on street corners and small shops in every major city in China, while unauthorised versions of Microsoft’s Windows operating system continue to be used on the computers of Chinese families in early years of the new millennium.

Better intellectual property protection for firms from the United States doing business in China has been a key issue in bilateral trade negotiations ever since Bill Clinton was president, and the issue is now at the centre of American demands to end the current trade war.

But this time, what is different about Lehman’s dispute is that it is with another American institution in China. Lehman is suing the American Chamber of Commerce in China, one of the main lobbying groups for American companies. He claims they stole three “AmCham” trademarks he first registered in the name of the American Club of Beijing, a non-profit organisation incorporated in Pennsylvania. The American Chamber of Commerce in China disputes Lehman’s claim.

Lehman said the American Chamber of Commerce in China was willing to negotiate a deal to transfer the trademarks in 2009, but a lawyer representing the lobbying group also approached Carole E. Bowers, who owned the American Club, registered in Pennsylvania as a sole proprietorship, and signed a document transferring the trademarks she technically did not own.