What do the New Trademark Examination Guidelines in China Mean for Brand Protection?

March 04, 2022 | BY

Susan Mok

Loke-Khoon Tan and James Lau of Baker McKenzie highlight the changes to the Guidelines for the Review and Examination of Trademarks, which promise to offer more protection to brand owners in terms of clarifying what a bad faith trademark application is and inclusion of non-traditional marks, as well as other changes to the examination standards

Summary :

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  • The Guidelines explain the concept of bad faith applications filed without the intention to use under Article 4 and set out factors that are considered relevant.
  • The Guidelines also confirm that the scope of protection afforded by Article 4 can be quite wide and note that Article 4 can be applied in various stages of the trademark lifecycle.
  • The Guidelines elaborate on the examination of non-traditional marks such as 3-D marks and sound marks.

At the end of 2021, the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) released the new Guidelines for the Review and Examination of Trademarks (the Guidelines) (商标审查审理指南), which subsequently came into effect on Jan. 1, 2022. Since the update in 2016, there have been rapid changes in China's trademark system. The revision brings the Guidelines up to date and provides additional details on CNIPA's latest practices.

Determination of Bad Faith

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