Apple loses the battle to protect the Apple Watch trademark in China.

Apple has lost its appeal for the registration of its Apple Watch trademark in China for the second time. According to a ruling from the Beijing Intellectual Property Court, the design would be too generic for a home screen to be protected in China, as it is common to many smartphones and watches. 

In rejecting Apple's first appeal to the Chinese Intellectual Property Authority, the Beijing Court declared that the trademark filed by the American technology giant was "too complex" and lacked the essential characteristics of a trademark. As you may know, for "a word, name, symbol, or design (including logos, colors, sounds, product configurations, etc.), or a combination thereof" to be registered as a trademark, it must be used in commerce to identify and distinguish the products of a specific brand from those of other competitors. The Court ruled that the Apple Watch trademark, rather than leading the public to believe that the watch in question was owned by Apple Inc., is more likely to appear to the average consumer simply as a representation of the home screen of any smartwatch.

The first trademark application in China was filed in November 2014, when Apple filed four trademarks, including the figurative mark "Apple Watch" and three for related Apple accessories. In March of this year, the Trademark Evaluation Committee of the General Administration of Industry and Commerce in China rejected Apple's applications, stating that the proposed designs were manifestly complex and lacked the characteristics required for trademark registration. Apple appealed the ruling to the Beijing Intellectual Property Court, arguing that the Apple trademarks sought to be registered have been widely used and advertised on the Apple Watch home screen, so much so that they have gained strong public recognition that allows the average consumer to immediately distinguish Apple Inc. products from those of other brands.

In short: Apple has advanced the defense that, although the proposed trademark is not inherently distinctive (or capable – on first use – of communicating to consumers that the trademark identifies the origin rather than describing the product itself), the Apple Watch trademark has acquired a secondary meaning in the minds of consumers, and therefore should be protected.