What you need to know about China Trademark Registration Application

Apr 30, 2018 | Trademark Blog

In 2013, The ChinaTrademark Office accepted 1.881,5 million trademark applications, a year-on-year increase of 14.15%. This is a record high, ranking the first in the world for 12 consecutive years. The accumulative number for applications from 2009 to 2013 was 6.85 million, more than the total of the previous 28 years (which was 6.39 million). The consecutively high growth in trademark applications had been continued.

~~CHINA TRADEMARK OFFICE

Why should you register your trademark in China?
If you have any plan for China and looking to remain in the market for the long-term, than it is very important to register and protect your trademark at the very beginning. China is a first-to-file country, whoever applies for a trademark first will obtain the registration even you are the one who uses the trademark first.
It does take some time and cost to register a trademark in China, but it will take more time and cost to wrestle with the Trademark troll. Just google search these words: tesla china trademark. you will understand why you should seriously consider this issue. The primary cost of trademark registration is far lower than the cost of legal battles and trademark infringements.

What Types of Trademarks you can register?
There are three types of trademark you can apply: Principal Mark,Collective Mark and Certification Mark.

Is my trademark registrable in China?
The followIng trademark will not be granted registration in China:

  • Identical or similar to any state name, national flag, national emblem, military flag, or decorations, of the People’s Republic of China, with names of the places where the Central and State organs are located, or with the names and designs of landmark buildings;
  • Having the nature of discrimination against any nationality;
  • Having the nature of exaggeration and fraud in advertising goods;
  • Detrimental to socialist morals or customs, or having other unhealthy influences

china trademark

Trademark Classes
China follows the Nice Classification for the purpose of classifying Goods and Services for trademark registration.There are 45 classes of trademarks when you want to apply for a trademark you need to decide which classes you want to register. You can download our trademark classification here.

What do we need to apply for your registration?

  • JPG picture format of the mark(s) you want to file
  • Specification of your goods or services. For each application, you can only choose 10 goods or service, there will be extra official fees if you pick more than 10.
  • Applicant’s name, nationality, address, and representative (if the applicant is a legal person). You also need to translate and transliterate your name, nationality, and address into Chinese.
  • Power of Attorney signed by the applicant.
  • Identity document

Procedure
Nine Months: After applying the application, the China trademark office will render a decision in 9 months.
Three Months: if the application is approved, there will be a three month opposition period, if there is no opposition during the period, the trademark will be grand for registration and published in the Trademark Gazette. The certificate of the trademark will also be issued after the period.(Usually, it will take you about 2-3 months to receive the certificate after the opposition period.)

TERM OF PROTECTION
The period of validity of a registered trademark shall be ten years, counted from the date of approval of the registration. If the registrant intends to continue to use the registered trademark can file the renewal application for an additional ten years. The trademark right period will go on endlessly, as long as the holder keeps on renewing it.

The Use of Trademark
If the use of the registered trademark has ceased for three consecutive years, you will be facing the risk of the cancellation to your trademark registration.Therefore it is Important to use your trademark properly and keep the sales records, advertisements,  as evidence of the use trademark.

So if you have some questions on registering your trademark in China, please use the form below and we will get back at you immediately.


Do you want to talk to us about trademarks? Ask some questions?