How We Got Here
The outgoing law was last substantively amended in 2019 in a narrow "stopgap" revision. CNIPA circulated a far more ambitious first draft for public comment in January 2023 (101 articles, 10 chapters), including a formal "use in commerce" maintenance requirement and a duplicate-filing prohibition. Much of that ambition did not survive the journey to the National People's Congress: the version submitted for first reading in December 2025 had leaned down to 84 articles, and the text finally adopted in June 2026 settled at 87 articles in nine chapters, with the strict use-in-commerce requirement and duplicate-registration bar both dropped or softened.
The Core Shift: From Registration to Genuine Use
China's first-to-file architecture remains intact, but the revision closes off loopholes that let speculative and bad-faith filers exploit that system — including against foreign companies that had not yet registered in China. The NPC Standing Committee's Legislative Affairs Commission frames the revision as a direct response to the "repeated occurrence of malicious trademark applications," insufficient infringement penalties, and disorder in the trademark agency industry.
Key Changes
- Anti-bad-faith filing regime with direct penalties (Article 54): applications filed without genuine intent to use, or clearly exceeding normal business needs, face refusal — and now a standalone fine of up to RMB 100,000 on the applicant, up from roughly RMB 10,000 under the outgoing framework. The filing itself suffices; no commercial use is required to trigger the penalty.
- Steeper agent liability: trademark agencies knowingly assisting bad-faith filings face fines up to RMB 200,000 and possible suspension; individual practitioners face up to RMB 100,000. New Article 69 extends this to agents mishandling overseas matters for Chinese clients.
- Opposition window cut from three months to two (Article 36): the single most operationally significant change — portfolio reviews conducted quarterly or reactively will no longer catch oppositions in time.
- Dynamic (motion) marks now registrable (Article 14), subject to a functionality exclusion extended to colour combinations, sounds, and dynamic marks alike (Article 18).
- Online use expressly counts as trademark use (Article 2) — relevant both to defeating non-use cancellation and to establishing online infringement.
- Cross-class protection for well-known marks expanded to marks widely recognised in China even if not yet registered there — a long-requested change for foreign brands that delayed Chinese registration.
- "Prior rights" broadened to "prior legitimate interests," deliberately elastic language reaching social media handles and virtual/AI-generated character likenesses.
- Ex officio cancellation and a one-year re-filing bar after voluntary cancellation (Articles 56, 49) — closing a gap previously exploitable through strategic cancel-and-refile cycles.
- Rebalanced damages (Article 77): actual losses and infringer's profits now stand as co-equal primary measures; statutory cap remains RMB 5,000,000 with 1–5x punitive damages for intentional infringement. The non-use defence to damages survives (Article 78) — use-evidence collection remains essential to recovery, not just to avoiding cancellation.
- Civil liability for malicious litigation (Article 81) — a direct civil remedy against vexatious or fabricated trademark claims.
Practical Implications
- Upgrade monitoring now. The two-month opposition window makes continuous watch services close to mandatory for any brand with China exposure.
- File earlier, not later. Cross-class protection for unregistered well-known marks is a fallback, not a substitute for registration — the evidentiary bar remains high.
- Archive online use evidence systematically — it now matters for both defeating non-use cancellation and recovering damages.
- Scope defensive filings conservatively and document a genuine business rationale, given the new refusal-plus-fine exposure under Articles 18 and 54.
- Vet local agents carefully given the sharply increased agency liability, including for overseas-matter misconduct.
- Track enforcement costs separately from damages calculations, since they remain recoverable as an add-on.