1. Procedure of Trademark Opposition
2. Trademark Opposition Filing Requirements

 

1. Procedure of Trademark Opposition

• "Any person may, within three months from the date of publication, file an opposition against an accepted application for registration of a trademark. If no opposition is filed within the specified period, the trademark shall be registered, a certificate of registration shall be issued, and the registration shall be published. " (Chinese Trademark Law, Article 30)

• "Where an opposition is filed against an accepted and published application for registration of a trademark, the Trademark Office shall hear both the opponent and the opposed party's statement of facts and grounds and shall, after investigation and verification, make a decision. Where any party is dissatisfied, he may, within fifteen days from receipt of the notification, apply for review to the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board, which Board shall make a decision and notify both the opponent and the opposed party in writing.

  Where any party is dissatisfied with the decision of the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board, he may, within thirty days from receipt of the notification, institute legal proceedings with the people's court. The people's court shall notify the other party to the review proceedings to participate in the legal proceedings as the third party." (Chinese Trademark Law, Article 33)

• "Where, within the specified period, no party applies for review of a decision made by the Trademark Office or institutes legal proceedings with the people's court against a decision of the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board, the decision shall come into effect.

  If it is decided that an opposition is not justified, the trademark shall be registered, a certificate of registration shall be issued, and the registration shall be published; if it is decided that an opposition is justified, no registration shall be made.

  Where it is decided that an opposition is not justified and the trademark is registered, the applicant's exclusive right to use the trademark shall start from the date of expiry of the three-month period from the publication of the accepted application." (Chinese Trademark Law, Article 34)

• "The justification of the opposition mentioned in Article 34, paragraph two, of the Trademark Law shall include the justification of the opposition to a registration in respect of a part of the designated goods. Where such opposition is justified, the application for the registration of trademarks in respect of that part of the designated goods shall not be approved.

  Where an opposed trademark has, prior to the coming into effect of the adjudication on the opposition, been announced as a registered trademark in the Trademark Gazette, the registration announcement shall be cancelled. The trademark that has been approved for registration upon the adjudication on the opposition shall be re-published.

  The trademark approved for registration upon the adjudication on the opposition shall not have the retroactive effect on another person's act to use a sign identical with or similarly to the trademark on the same or similar goods from the date on which the period for trademark opposition expires and before the adjudication on the opposition takes effect; however, the losses inflicted to the trademark registrant due to the bad faith in which the sign is used shall be compensated.

  The time limit for the application for review and adjudication of the trademark approved for registration upon the adjudication on the opposition shall be calculated from the date of publication of the adjudication on the trademark opposition." (Implementing Regulation of Chinese Trademark Law, Article 23)

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2. Trademark Opposition Filing Requirements

The Trademark Office shall send a copy of the Application for Trademark Opposition to the opposed party and require him to make a reply within thirty days from the date of his receipt of the copy. His failure to make a reply shall not affect the adjudication by the Trademark Office on the opposition.

Where an interested party needs to supplement relevant proofs and certificates after he raises an opposition application or makes a reply, he shall make a statement in the application or reply, and submit the proofs and certificates within three months from the date of submission of the application or reply; where he fails to submit them at the expiration of the time limit, the interested party shall be deemed to have abandoned supplementing the relevant proofs and certificates." (Implementing Regulation of Chinese Trademark Law, Article 22)

• "An interested party entrusting a trademark agency with the filing of an application for trademark registration or attending to other trademark matters shall submit a Power of Attorney. The Power of Attorney shall indicate such contents and competence as authorized; the Power of Attorney from a foreign person or foreign enterprise shall, in addition, indicate the nationality of the entruster.

  Notarization and legalization of the Power of Attorney and other relevant certificates from a foreign person or foreign enterprise shall be done based on the principle of reciprocity.

  The foreign person or foreign enterprise mentioned in Article 18 of the Trademark Law refers to the foreign person who or foreign enterprise which does not have its habitual residence or place of business in China." (Implementing Regulation of Chinese Trademark Law, Article 7)

• "The Chinese language shall be used in applying for trademark registration or attending to other trademark matters.

  Where the various certificates, certifying documents and proofs submitted under the Trademark Law and these Regulations are in a foreign language, the Chinese translation thereof shall be attached; where the Chinese translation is not attached, the certificates, certifying documents and proofs shall be deemed not to have been submitted." (Implementing Regulation of Chinese Trademark Law, Article 8)

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