In China, the "first file rule" is adopted and hence the first who registers a trademark will have priority in claiming ownership of the trademark. It is therefore always advisable to register your trademark in China to secure priority and ownership. As provided in Article 3 of the Trademark Law, in China registered trademarks refer to trademarks that have been approved and registered by the Trademark Office, and the trademark registrants shall enjoy the exclusive right to use the trademarks, and be protected by law. Any foreign person or foreign enterprise intending to apply for the registration of a trademark or for any other matters concerning trademarks in China shall appoint any of such organizations as designated by the State to act as his or its agent.
A straightforward trademark registration will usually take approximately 2 years and the valid period of a registered trademark is 10 years.
Details required
To proceed the trademark application for registration in China, please provide us the following information:
Search
As the trademark application will need 2 years to complete the whole registration process, once the application faces opposition either by the Trademark Office, on one hand there is a waste of time and cost; on the other hand there will be another 2 years for submitting another application. Hence, it is highly recommended to conduct an official trademark search issued by the China Trademark Office so as to ascertain whether there is any conflicting prior mark which will be available in 8 working days upon receiving your request.
Procedures for Trademark Registration
When we have received your application, we will issue (1) a confirmation letter which summarizes the details and specifications of the application for your final checking (2) the power of attorney for your execution and at the same time (3) our invoice.
Please confirm the application by signing on the letter and return to us by fax or email. The application will be filed within 14 working days of receiving the original of the power of attorney and the payment of our invoice, and we will report the filing with a copy of the official notice of filing in approximately 3 months depending on the backlog of the China Trademarks Office.
There are 4 stages in the process of examining an application for registration:
If the trademark application has passed formality check and examination, the application has been preliminary approved and proceed to the three-month opposition period, when any person may file and opposition against the trademark. If there is no opposition to the trademark application, the whole registration process will complete in approximately 2 years as pledge by the China Trademark Office.
However, China Trademark Office may refuse the application and you have the option to apply for a review to the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board. The time required for the application in such situation will be indeterminable. Otherwise, you may abandon the pending application at no extra-cost.
Validity period of registration
Upon registration, a trademark will last for a period of 10 years dating back to the filing date and can be renewed indefinitely for successive periods of 10 years.
Convention Priority
If you have filed an application in another WTO or Paris Convention country within the last half year, then there is a choice of claiming a right to priority so that the China application will be deemed to be filed on the same day as the correspondence application. The application filed should include the certified convention priority document (together with its certified English translation). Priority number and date are required at the time of filing the application in China, while pertinent priority documents may be submitted as supplementary but within 3 months after the Chinese filing date.
Please download application form here.
If you require more information, please contact us at:
| Telephone | : (852) 2384 2288 |
| Fax | : (852) 3011 3245 |
| : info@ebrand.com.hk | |
| Address | : Unit 1501, Jubilee Centre, 46 Gloucester Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong. |