The Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China was adopted at the 24th meeting of the Standing Committee of the Fifth National People's Congress on August 23, 1982.

Sub-general provisions of the "Trademark Law", application for trademark registration, examination and approval of trademark registration, renewal, alteration, transfer and use of registered trademarks, invalidation of registered trademarks, management of trademark use, protection of exclusive rights to registered trademarks, Article 73 of the Supplementary Provisions shall come into force on March 1, 1983.

Revision

Adopted at the 24th meeting of the Standing Committee of the Fifth National People's Congress on August 23, 1982

The first amendment in accordance with the "Decision on Amending the" Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China "at the 30th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Seventh National People's Congress on February 22, 1993

According to the Second Amendment of the Decision of the 24th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Ninth National People's Congress on October 27, 2001

According to the Third Amendment of the Decision of the Standing Committee of the Twelfth National People's Congress on August 30, 2013

According to the Fourth Amendment of the Tenth Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Thirteenth National People's Congress on April 23, 2019

The Right of Priority on China Trademark Registration

1. An applicant may enjoy the right of priority in accordance with any agreement entered into between China and another country or an international treaty under which both of them are parties, for a period of 6 months from the date of the initial trademark application made.

2. The owner of a trademark may enjoy the right of priority for a period of 6 months from the first day on which the merchandises with the trademark are exhibited at any international exhibition recognized by the China Government.

Trademark Search in China

Trademark search refers to the process by which a trademark registration applicant personally or entrusts a trademark agent: searches online for relevant trademark application registration situations through a trademark online to find out whether the trademark he intends to apply for registration is the same as or similar to a trademark that has already been registered or is being applied for. The search before application is an important step in applying for trademark registration. Although the search results do not have legal effect, it can make trademark registration applicants aware of it, reduce blindness, reduce the risk of trademark registration, and therefore greatly reduce costs. At the same time, strive for more application time.

A trademark search can only search for trademark information that has been entered into the database, so there is a blank period, or a blind spot. Generally, a trademark approximate search is performed again after 2 to 3 months to enhance the success rate of trademark registration.

Article 30 of the "Trademark Law" stipulates that: trademarks that apply for registration shall be rejected by the Trademark Office if they do not comply with the relevant provisions of this Law or are the same or similar to those that have already been registered or initially approved on the same or similar goods with others. Applications are not announced.

Therefore, a search should be performed before the application, so that the trademark can obtain the trademark certificate as much as possible. At the same time, it takes almost one year for a registered trademark to be accepted from the Trademark Office to the public. , Not only wasted money, but more importantly wasted time and delayed the use of trademarks.

Trademark Registration in China

Trademark registration refers to the legal fact that a trademark user applies for registration of a trademark he or she uses to the national trademark authority (Intellectual Property Office) in accordance with the conditions and procedures prescribed by law, and is reviewed by the national trademark authority in accordance with the law to allow registration. In China, trademark registration is the premise of trademark protection and the legal basis for determining the exclusive right of a trademark. Once the trademark user is approved to register the trademark, it indicates that it has acquired the exclusive right to the trademark and is protected by law.

benefit

1. Convenient for consumers to shop by license.

2. The trademark registrant has the exclusive right to use the trademark and is protected by law.

3. Through trademark registration, you can create a brand and seize the market first.

4. A trademark is an intangible asset and its value can be evaluated.

5. Trademarks can be converted to realize their value through transfer, license to others, or pledge.

6. Trademarks are also an indispensable condition for quality inspection, health inspection, and bar code.

7. The local industrial and commercial bureaus at all levels monitor the quality of goods and services through the management of trademarks.

registration process

Trademark inquiry (within 2 days) - preparation of application documents (within 3 days) - submission of application (within 2 days) - payment of trademark registration fees - trademark form examination (1 month) - issuance of trademark acceptance notice - trademark substantive examination (12 months) ) - Trademark announcement (3 months) - Issue a trademark certificate. (2014.05.01 implements the new trademark law, and the trademark substantive examination period is 9 months.)

The trademark examination is divided into formal examination and substantive examination.

1. Trademark review.

A. The examination of trademark form (within 2 months), it is very important to establish the application date. Because China's trademark registration adopts the principle of first application, once the application date has become the legal basis for determining trademark rights, the application date of trademark registration is based on intellectual property rights. The date on which the Office receives the application documents shall prevail, and the Intellectual Property Office shall receive the trademark application and issue a notice of acceptance of the application that meets the formal requirements.

B. Substantive examination of trademarks (in 9 months, the actual examination is currently completed in approximately 165 days). Substantive examination of trademarks is the inspection conducted by the trademark registration authority on whether the application for trademark registration conforms to the provisions of the Trademark Law. Data retrieval. Analysis comparison. Research and decide to grant a series of activities such as preliminary approval or rejection of the application. In the meantime, please do not mark the registration mark (such as: "registered trademark", "R", etc.) in use before the trademark is not allowed to be registered, you can mark "TM". In addition, before the registration is not approved, the products and packaging with the trademark, or the trademark logo should not be made too much at one time to prevent unnecessary losses due to blocked registration.

2. publication on preliminary examination and approval of trademarks.

The examination and approval of a trademark refers to the decision of allowing the registration of a trademark registration application that meets the relevant provisions of the Trademark Law after being examined. It will be announced in the "Trademark Announcement". If no objection is filed within three months or the objection is ruled out, the trademark shall be registered and the registration certificate shall be issued.

3. Trademark publication

The announcement issued by the State Intellectual Property and trademark office when it registers the applied trademark after the announcement of the preliminary examination and approval of the trademark, after three months of objection period, no objection or the objection ruling procedure, and the objection cannot be established. The purpose of the announcement is to inform the public that the trademark has been registered and the applicant has obtained the exclusive right to use the trademark, which shall not be infringed by anyone.

The announcement of a registered trademark is the legal evidence for the applicant to obtain the exclusive right to use the trademark.

Trademark Renewal in China

The term of protection of a registered trademark is ten years from the filing date and it is renewable for periods of ten years in China. An application for renewal in China must be filed during the last 6 months preceding the expiration of the protection period. If an application is not filed within the above mentioned six month period, the mark may still be renewed within the 6 months following the expiration date, by paying a fine.

In the case of termination of the protection of a trademark for failure of renewal, another identical or similar trademark application covering identical or similar goods or services shall be refused where an objection is raised in the period of two years. Therefore, the grace period of two years is defined as a kind of priority right for the trademark holders to re-file their lapsed trademark by filing a new trademark application in China.

Trademark Watch in China

One. Trademark monitoring

1. Taking the registered trademark as the protection object, monitor the preliminary examination trademark announcement issued by the Trademark Office.

2. Monitor the legal status of certain trademarks.

Two.Purpose of trademark monitoring

1. If it is found that the trademark is similar to the registered trademark, it may be confused with the registered trademark, which may cause consumers to misidentify the first-reviewed announced trademark, and promptly raise objections to the similar trademark during the announcement period to prevent its registration. 2, observe the legal status of certain trademarks (such as competitors), can also understand the operation and development of other companies in the same industry, and timely adjust their own business strategies

Third, the way of trademark monitoring

1. By irregularly monitoring and comparing your own trademarks with the trademark data in the "Trademark Announcement" (four issues per month, thousands of issues per month) of the Trademark Office, you find that similar trademarks may affect your own brand trademarks. Trademarks and objections to protect their own trademarks.

On the surface, it saves money, but it has low efficiency, large loopholes, poor monitoring results, high actual risk costs, and large error and leakage rates.

2. Law firm assists trademark monitoring

Because many law firms have established professional trademark agency teams, they are also quite professional in trademark monitoring, and with the help of professional software, they can achieve better monitoring quality, reduce risks, and improve efficiency.

3. Entrust a large agency organization recognized by the State Trademark Office to monitor.

On the surface, there is a fixed fee to pay, but the monitoring quality is good, the actual risk cost is low, and the efficiency is high. And there is follow-up service guarantee.