China's trademark office rules against Leupold's claim for the 'LEUPOLD' mark.

China's disregard for upholding its numerous international commitments to intellectual property rights is presenting yet another frustrating struggle for a U.S.-based manufacturer.

Leupold & Stevens, the Beaverton, Ore.-based maker of riflescopes, binoculars, rangefinders and spotting

scopes under the "Leupold" trademark, learned in December 2001 that the Chinese government had issued a trademark for the English word "LEUPOLD" to a company it had never heard of: SAM Optics Ltd. of China.

To counter SAM Optics' application, Leupold and Stevens filed its own trademark application with the People's Republic of China on Jan. 21, 2002. It learned in November 2005 that its application for the "LEUPOLD" trademark in China was rejected by the PRC Trademark Office on grounds that it did not own a registration or application for the mark "LEUPOLD" in China, company representative Andrew York told the Senate subcommittee on trade, tourism and economic development on March 8. The Chinese Trademark Office also said that Leupold & Stevens' "demonstration of trademark registrations, sales and manufacturing volume, and affidavits of fame of the mark, were insufficient to prove that SAM Optics had filed in bad faith," said York. "This is the kind of experience that awaits U.S. businesses seeking to register their trademarks in China."

Leupold & Stevens is filing an appeal, but the company's counsel does not expect the PRC Trademark Office to rule for at least two to three years. "If Leupold & Stevens loses this final appeal and if it loses its opposition against [SAM Optics] for the LEUPOLD mark owned by Sam Optics, Leupold & Stevens will have no recourse except either to pay whatever price SAM Optics sets for the registration it has obtained in bad faith or run the risk of being prosecuted for infringement of its own mark registered in China by SAM Optics," said York. "This is obviously just the type of fraudulent intent that numerous international conventions, agreements and treaties have sought to prevent."

China is a member of the World Intellectual Property Organization and the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property. It acceded to the Madrid Agreement for International Registration of Trademarks in 1989; the Nice Agreement for the International Classification of Goods and Services in 1994; and it signed the Trademark Law Treaty in 1994.