PRC Trademark Law (2nd Revision)

Article 2: The Trademark Office of the department for the administration of industry and commerce of the State Council shall be in charge of trademark registration and control for the whole country.

The department for the administration of industry and commerce of the State Council shall establish a Trademark Review and Adjudication Board, which shall be responsible for handling trademark dispute matters.

Article 3: Trademarks approved for registration by the Trademark Office, including trademarks for goods, trademarks for services, collective marks and certification marks, are registered trademarks. Trademark registrants shall have the exclusive right to use a trademark and shall receive legal protection.

For the purposes of this Law, the term "collective mark" means a sign that has been registered in the name of a group, association or other organization and that is intended to be used by the members of the organization in their commercial activities, in order to indicate the user's status as a member of the organization.

For the purposes of this Law, the term "certification mark" means a sign that is controlled by an organization that has a supervisory capacity over certain goods or services and that is used by work units or individuals, other than the said organization, on their goods or services in order to certify the origin, raw materials, manufacturing method, quality or other special qualities of such goods or services.

Special matters concerning the registration and control of collective marks and certification marks shall be provided for in regulations to be formulated by the department for the administration of industry and commerce of the State Council.

Article 4: Natural persons, and legal persons and other organizations that need to obtain the exclusive right to use a trademark for the goods they produce, manufacture, process, select or distribute shall apply to the Trademark Office for registration of a trademark for goods.

Natural persons, and legal persons and other organizations that need to obtain the exclusive right to use a trademark for the services they provide shall apply to the Trademark Office for registration of a trademark for services.

The provisions of this Law relating to trademarks for goods shall be applicable to trademarks for services.

Article 5: Two or more natural persons or two or more legal persons or other organizations may jointly apply to the Trademark Office to register one trademark and jointly enjoy and exercise the exclusive right to use the said trademark.

Article 6: In the case of goods that the State stipulates must use registered trademarks, trademark registration must be applied for. If trademark registration for such goods has not been approved, they may not be sold on the market.

Article 7: Trademark users shall be responsible for the quality of the goods on which their trademark is used. The departments for the administration of industry and commerce at all levels shall, through trademark control, stop acts that deceive consumers.

Article 8: Any visually perceptible signs, including words, figures, letters, numbers, three-dimensional signs and colour combinations as well as combinations of the aforementioned elements, which are capable of distinguishing the goods of one natural person or one legal person or other organization from those of another may be the subject of applications for registration as a trademark.

Article 9: Trademarks for which registration is applied shall have distinctive characteristics and be easy to distinguish, and may not conflict with prior lawful rights obtained by any third party.

The registrant of a trademark has the right to mark the same with the phrase "`¡¤U"