A Step Towards Procedural Certainty: Amendments to China's Trademark Review and Adjudication Rules

By Ruixue Ran, East Associates Beijing

On September 17 2002, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce issued the revised Trademark Review and Adjudication Rules (the Review Rules), which took effect on October 17 2002. The rules govern the practices before the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board (TRAB). The Review Rules are the latest legislative moves aimed at implementing China's commitments under the Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). They follow amendment to the PRC Trademark Law 2nd Revision (the Trademark Law, effective December 1 2001) and the issuance of the PRC, Trademark Law Implementing Regulations (the Implementing Regulations, effective September 15 2002), as well as the release of the relevant judicial interpretations on trademark disputes. 

The new Review Rules supersede the prior rules of 1995 and contain considerably more detail on the guidelines for hearing trademark cases.  The new rules add more than 100 new articles. More importantly, the modifications have substantively changed review proceedings before the TRAB, as we discuss below.