State Administration for Industry and Commerce, Trademark Review and Adjudication Rules (Revised)

Promulgated: September 17 2002
Effective: October 17 2002
Interpreting authority: State Administration for Industry and Commerce
Applicability: The rules apply where trademark disputes are being mediated by the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board.

Main contents: The 107 articles of the Rules prescribe in detail procedures related to the review and adjudication of trademark disputes. The seven parts of the Rules contain stipulations on application for review and adjudication (Part Two), review and adjudication proceedings (Part Three), public review and adjudication proceedings (Part Four), evidence (Part Five), and method of delivery (Part Six).
The Trademark Review and Adjudication Board performs trademark review and adjudication through a review and adjudication panel (Article 8). During the review and adjudication process, the parties to the dispute may continue to exercise their trademark rights and other relevant rights (Article 10). Foreign individuals and foreign enterprises may appoint a qualified trademark agent to handle matters related to trademark review and adjudication (Article 12). Chinese is the language employed in trademark review and adjudication (Article 13).
The Trademark Review and Adjudication Board shall notify an applicant within 30 days after an application for trademark review and adjudication is accepted (Article 21). The respondent shall deliver its response to the board within 30 days of receiving notification of the pending review and adjudication (Article 24).
The review and adjudication panel is composed of three or more persons (Article 30). Parties may appeal to a people¡¯s court when unwilling to accept the panel¡¯s judgment and the people¡¯s court may order another review and adjudication by the panel (Article 43). The parties may request that the trademark review and adjudication be public (Article 46). Parties may call witnesses (Article 63). The parties are responsible for providing evidence for their claims (Article 73). Evidence originating from outside of the PRC must be notarized in the location of origin. This includes Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan (Article 81). Foreign-language documentation must be translated into Chinese (Article 82).
Related legislation: PRC Trademark Law (2nd Revision), Oct 27 2001, CLP 2001 No.10 p75 and PRC Trademark Law Implementing Rules, Aug 3 2002, CLP 2002 No.8 p85
Repealed legislation: Trademark Review and Adjudication Rules, Nov 2 1995, CLP 1995 No.5 p7