China Trademark Application Examination Period Decreased to 10 Months

As reported by Xinhua.com, it was released on the China Industry and Commerce Administration Conference on 26th, December, 2011 that the trademark examination period is further shortened to the current 10 months calculating from the documents submitting to the examination due, and on the other hand, the trademark opposition and dispute hearing could be finished within 18 months, which has reached the level of U.S.A and Japan.

For the rapid development in the economy, the trademark application in China surpassed the annual examinable amount around 2000, which then led to the overstock. And the examination period was prolonged to more than 3 years by the end of 2007. On that account, the administration took series measures to promote the process, and consequently, the examination period was reduced to less than 1 year by the end of 2010.

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How to improve the success rate of trademark registration in China?

Highlight: Foreign companies should ask the Chinese trademark agency to take trademark retrieval and give advice of feasibility of the trademark keyword before applying the trademark.

The most frequently consulted question by foreign companies to us is that what measures could be taken when trademark application is refused in China.

    In accordance with our experiences, it is more difficult to get the trademark that has been refused approved, however, under most circumstances, the basic success rate for trademark application can be known through the prior trademark retrieval service. For the avoidance of any influence on company’s brand strategy from application failure, alternative names or together-applied backup names are suggested to those trademarks difficult to apply.

The rejection of trademark application may cause large losses and damages to enterprises’ brand strategy. Generally, the company tends to schedule the brand strategy, including brand positioning, advertisement and protection before unveiling the product. However, it may cost 1 to 1.5 years from application to registration or rejection due to administrative refusal, which may challenge the brand strategy of the company shall the company was unprepared.

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