The newly revised Trademark Law will officially come into effect on January 1, 2027. It consists of 9 chapters and 87 articles in total, with the core substantive amendments as follows:
(1)Dynamic marks are included in the scope of registrable trademarks. (Article 14)
(2) Marks identical with or similar to symbolic elements such as the name, Party flag and Party emblem of the Communist Party of China shall not be registered or used as trademarks. (Article 15)
(3)Trademark applications filed without intent for use and obviously exceeding normal production and business needs shall be rejected. (Article 19)
(4)Unregistered well-known trademarks are entitled to cross-class protection. (Article 21)
(5)The trademark opposition period is shortened from three months to two months. (Article 36)
(6)Under the old law, registration of similar trademarks by third parties would be barred for one year in three scenarios: cancellation, invalidation or non-renewal of a registered trademark. The new law restricts this bar to only one scenario: voluntary cancellation applied for by the trademark registrant. (Article 49)
(7)Anyone who files malicious trademark applications that produce adverse effects may be given a warning and fined not more than RMB 100,000. (Article 54)
(8)Anyone who uses a registered trademark in a manner that misleads the public may be fined an amount not exceeding five times the illegal business turnover or RMB 250,000, whichever is lower; failure to make rectifications within the time limit may result in cancellation of the registered trademark. (Article 56)
(9) Administrative trademark authorities may take the initiative to cancel a registered trademark if it has become a generic name or has not been used consecutively for three years without justifiable reasons. (Article 57)
(10) The exclusive right holder of a registered trademark comprising three-dimensional signs, color combinations, sound marks, dynamic marks or the like shall have no right to prohibit others from the legitimate use of their functional features. (Article 73)
(11) Courts shall impose penalties and order civil liability against parties who initiate trademark litigation through malicious collusion or fabricated facts. (Article 81)