Advance the fight against malicious trademark registration

　　With the rapid development of China's socialist market economy with Chinese characteristics and the further deepening of reform and opening up, trademarks, as the "identity marks" of goods or services provided by market entities, have gradually become a powerful means for market entities to participate in market competition. Against the backdrop of mass entrepreneurship and innovation, small and micro enterprises are constantly emerging, and the demand for trademark registration from market entities has surged. With the optimization of trademark registration procedures, shorter registration cycles, and lower registration costs, it is more convenient for applicants to obtain trademark registration. At the same time, malicious trademark applications aimed at傍名牌have emerged one after another. In addition to highly imitating well-known brands, devouring the market share of well-known brand producers, and obtaining high profits by relying on "genuine brands," many market entities have also begun to focus on hot events in society or a certain field. Out of the mentality of "傍大腿有肉吃", they are scrambling to register the same trademark, even if it means bending the rules. In his proposal "On Further Curbing Malicious Trademark Registration and Strengthening the Scientific Nature of the Trademark Registration System", Committee Member Tao Kaiyuan clearly pointed out that these behaviors consume a large amount of administrative and judicial resources, placing an unbearable burden on trademark examination personnel in administrative organs and judicial personnel, and making it difficult to meet the timely needs of normal business market entities for trademark registration.

　　In response to the increasingly serious malicious trademark application behaviors, the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) listens to the opinions of representatives and committee members through multiple channels, strengthens communication, regards cracking down on malicious trademark application behaviors as one of the key tasks of trademark work, focuses on regulating trademark application and registration behaviors, and actively adopts various measures to regulate malicious application behaviors. It curbs abnormal applications at various stages of the registration process, moving the crackdown forward. First, all malicious registration behaviors that clearly infringe on the prior rights of others or that massively grab public resources are rejected. This includes: massive imitation and grabbing of other's well-known trademarks or other trademarks with high recognition, massive grabbing of the names of well-known figures and names of well-known enterprises, massive hoarding of place names, scenic spot names, mountain names, public cultural and artistic resources, industry terms, and other public resources, as well as repeated malicious registration of the same enterprise's well-known trademarks or other trademarks with high recognition. Second, for trademarks that lack a genuine intention to use and that clearly exceed the needs of normal business activities, they are rejected at the examination stage and not registered at the opposition stage, in accordance with Articles 4 and 30 of the Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as the "Trademark Law"). Finally, in the three-year non-use cancellation procedure, the determination standard of "trademark use" is strictly adhered to, and those without actual use, only symbolic use, are resolutely cancelled.

　　Recently, Song Jianhua, Director of the Law and Regulations Department of the State Intellectual Property Office, stated at a regular press conference of the State Administration for Market Regulation that the State Intellectual Property Office has always attached great importance to the issue of malicious trademark registration, not only taking measures in various aspects in examination practice and increasing the regulation of malicious trademark application behaviors, but also focusing on promoting legislative work and continuously improving relevant legal systems. It regulates malicious trademark grabbing in accordance with the law and emphasizes that trademark administrative organs curb abnormal applications at various stages of the registration process. According to the "Analysis of Trademark Registration Work in the First Half of 2019" released by the State Intellectual Property Office, since 2019, the Trademark Office has continued to increase the monitoring and crackdown on malicious trademark grabbing behaviors at the examination, opposition, and review stages. In the second quarter of 2019, 24,145 abnormal trademark applications were rejected, accounting for about 4.2% of the total rejected applications during the same period, which has a strong demonstration effect.

　　China IP reporters learned that after widely soliciting opinions from various sectors of society, including relevant ministries and commissions, industry associations, and market entities, the State Administration for Market Regulation and the State Intellectual Property Office drafted and formulated the "Several Provisions on Regulating Trademark Application and Registration Behaviors" (hereinafter referred to as the "Provisions"). These provisions will come into effect on December 1 this year. A relevant person in charge of the State Intellectual Property Office stated that the drafting ideas of the Provisions mainly include the following three points: First, to curb malicious application of trademark registration, clarify the requirements for applying for trademark registration and engaging in trademark agency, give full play to the functions of intellectual property management departments, move the crackdown forward, and achieve full process coverage. Second, to cooperate with the latest amendments to the Trademark Law, to refine the factors considered by the trademark registration department when conducting examinations based on Article 4 of the Trademark Law, as well as the applicable situations and penalties of Article 68 administrative penalties. Third, to emphasize the combination of supervision and guidance, combining the regulatory measures within the trademark examination and management process with measures outside the process such as credit records and agency management, combining the positive guidance of government departments with industry self-discipline, to form a long-term mechanism for severely cracking down on malicious trademark registration applications.

　　In response to the widespread public concern about the malicious application and registration of trademarks recently, the person in charge proposed that the Provisions will cooperate with the Trademark Law and other relevant laws to effectively crack down on malicious trademark application and registration behaviors at multiple stages such as examination and law enforcement. For cases similar to grabbing the names of well-known internet celebrities, for trademarks that have not yet been registered, the trademark registration department shall, during the examination process, based on public opinion and reporting clues, find that the relevant application is a malicious trademark registration application that does not aim at use as stipulated in Article 4 of the Trademark Law, and shall reject it and not announce it in accordance with the law; if an opposition is raised during the preliminary approval announcement period, the trademark registration department shall, after examination, deem the opposition reason valid and make a decision not to register in accordance with the law. For registered trademarks, the relevant right holders may apply for invalidation of the registered trademark in accordance with the law, and if the reason for invalidation is deemed valid after examination, the trademark registration department shall make a ruling to invalidate the registered trademark in accordance with the law; if the registered trademark is not used for three consecutive years without justifiable reason, any unit or individual may apply to the trademark registration department to cancel the registered trademark. If any party is dissatisfied with the above decisions or rulings, it may initiate review, litigation, and other procedures in accordance with the law.

　　For the examination of malicious trademark registration applications that are not for the purpose of use, the trademark registration department will comprehensively analyze and judge based on multiple factors and case-by-case evidence, such as using the trademark examination system to check the applicant's application history, transfer situation, and other relevant matters, screening out well-known trademarks and well-known place names that are prohibited from registration; and querying the applicant's industry and violation records through business licenses and enterprise information disclosure systems. In addition, in accordance with the provisions of Article 29 of the Trademark Law, during the examination process, if the examiner believes that the applicant is suspected of malicious application or hoarding registration, the applicant may be required to provide relevant explanations.

　　At the same time, the relevant person in charge of the State Intellectual Property Office stated that it will follow the practice in the patent field and include the behavior of malicious application for trademark registration in the scope of joint punishment, and clarify it in relevant regulations and documents.

　　The State Intellectual Property Office has always attached great importance to the issue of malicious trademark registration, taking effective measures at the trademark registration examination and trial stages, moving the crackdown on malicious registration forward, and regulating malicious trademark grabbing behaviors in accordance with the law. The latest amendments to the Trademark Law and the upcoming Provisions provide clearer and more direct legal basis for severely cracking down on malicious applications for registration, providing powerful legal weapons for increasing the crackdown on malicious registration. We firmly believe that with the implementation of these provisions, malicious trademark registration behaviors will be effectively curbed.

　　Note: The content is compiled and reported from the official website of the SIPO.