The Trademark Law was promulgated on 23 Aug. 1982, and amended in 1993, 2001, 2013 and 2019 respectively. The latest revision entered into force on 1 Nov. 2019.
There are 73 articles in total, which aim to promote trademark management and protect the exclusive right to use trademark.
The key points are as follows:
The Trademark Bureau of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce under the State Council is the regulatory authority in this field.
The regulatory authority shall set up a Trademark Review and Adjudication Board to handle trademark disputes.
Trademarks approved and registered by the Trademark Bureau are registered trademarks, including commodity trademarks, service trademarks, collective trademarks and certification trademarks.
Where a foreign individual or foreign enterprise applies for trademark registration in China, it shall be handled in accordance with the agreement signed between their country and China or the international treaty to which both countries are parties, or in accordance with the principle of reciprocity.
If an applicant for trademark registration, within six months from the date of their first trademark registration application in a foreign country, applies for trademark registration in China for the same product of the same trademark, they may enjoy pre-emptive rights in accordance with the agreement signed between their country and China or the international treaties to which both countries are parties, or in accordance with the principle of mutual recognition of pre-emptive rights.
The Trademark Bureau shall, within nine months from the date of receiving the application documents for trademark registration, complete the examination and approval of the trademark applied for registration; if the application conforms to the relevant provisions of this Law, a preliminary validation gazette shall be made therefor.
With respect to a preliminarily validated and gazetted trademark, the prior right holder or a stakeholder may, within three months from the date of the gazette, raise an objection to the Trademark Bureau. If there is no objection during the gazette period, the trademark shall be registered, a trademark registration certificate shall be issued, and the registered trademark shall be gazetted.
The term of validity of a registered trademark shall be ten years, commencing from the date of approval for registration.
Trademark registrants or stakeholders in trademark infringement disputes may bring a lawsuit with the court or request the regulatory authority for dispute settlement.
If the regulatory authority confirms the infringement, it may order the infringer to stop the infringement immediately, confiscate and/or destroy the infringing products, and impose a fine of less than five times of the business revenue.
The court can determine the indemnity payable by the infringer to the right holder according to the actual loss suffered by the right holder. If it is difficult to determine the actual loss, the court may determine the indemnity according to the benefit obtained by the infringer due to the infringement; if it is difficult to determine the loss of the right holder or the benefit obtained by the infringer, the indemnity shall be reasonably determined by reference to the trademark license fee. If it is still difficult for the court to determine the indemnity, the infringer may be required to pay an indemnity of less than CNY 5 million.
If the infringer maliciously infringes the exclusive right to use trademark and the circumstances are severe, the court may also require the infringer to pay additional punitive damages in the amount of one to five times of the aforesaid indemnity.