The newly revised Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China will take effect on January 1, 2027. This revision addresses prominent issues troubling the industry, making important institutional arrangements in combating malicious registration, regulating trademark agencies, and strengthening trademark use.
Regarding malicious registration, the new law stipulates that trademark registration applications must follow the principle of good faith and must not harm existing prior rights of others. Applications that clearly exceed normal business needs will face direct rejection.
On trademark agency market governance, the new law requires trademark agencies to implement registration management. Agencies assisting in malicious registration may face fines of up to 200,000 yuan, with serious cases subject to suspension of their trademark agency business processing.
Legal experts note that during the transition period before implementation, enterprises should begin auditing their trademark portfolios. Trademarks exceeding business needs that have been idle long-term with no usage plans may be voluntarily cancelled. Future trademark strategies should adhere to the 'register as needed' principle, exercising caution in large-scale defensive registration across all categories.