On June 26, 2026, the 23rd Session of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress voted to adopt the newly revised Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China, which will take effect on January 1, 2027. This is the first comprehensive revision since the 1983 Trademark Law took effect more than 40 years ago — the provisions have expanded from "8 chapters, 73 articles" to "9 chapters, 87 articles," with significant structural adjustments.

The most important signal of this revision is that the center of gravity of the trademark system is shifting from "registration-focused" to "registration and use in parallel." Trademarks that are "registered but never used" may now be proactively cancelled by the authorities; "misleading use" may incur fines of up to RMB 250,000 or five times the illegal business turnover; and "hoarding-style filings" may themselves draw warnings and penalties. Trademarks registered before the new law takes effect remain valid under it (Article 87), but the new rules on use, management, and penalties will cover all existing trademarks — the window for enterprises to complete their compliance self-audits is right now.

Effective date of the new law: 2027.01.01

Passed on June 26, 2026; effective January 1, 2027

Scope of the revision: 9 chapters, 87 articles

First comprehensive revision since 1983 (originally 8 chapters, 73 articles; expanded to 9 chapters, 87 articles)

Opposition period shortened: 3 → 2 months

Time for rights holders to prepare opposition evidence compressed by one-third

Fine cap: RMB 250,000

Maximum fine for "scheming trademarks" (Article 56)

The Four Main Threads of This Revision

Main Thread	Core Changes	Key Articles
Strengthened use obligations	Online use recognized by law; dormant trademarks may be proactively cancelled by the authorities; heavy penalties for "scheming trademarks"	Articles 2, 56, 57, 70
Higher registration threshold	Applications "not for the purpose of use and clearly exceeding normal business needs" rejected; malicious filings may be fined up to RMB 100,000	Articles 19, 54
Faster rights confirmation	Opposition period shortened from 3 months to 2 months	Article 36
Upgraded protection rules	Cross-class protection of well-known trademarks regardless of registration; "recognition" changed to "confirmation"; overseas confirmation of fame available; countermeasures against malicious litigation	Articles 21, 63, 69, 81

Self-Audit 1: Dormant Trademarks — "Cancellation for Non-Use" Enters an Era of Proactive Official Cleanup

Legal Basis

On top of the existing rule under Article 57 of the new law that "any entity or individual may apply for cancellation of a trademark that has not been used for three consecutive years without justifiable reasons," a new provision allows the trademark administration department of the State Council to cancel such trademarks on its own initiative. Cancellation for non-use has shifted from "no complaint, no action" to "the authorities can act directly," and long-dormant trademarks now face the risk of large-scale cleanup.

Risk Scenarios

1. A large number of related classes registered purely for defensive purposes, never actually put into commercial use;

2. After business contraction or product iteration, trademarks for old brands remain idle;

3. Multiple entities within a group hold duplicate or overlapping registrations without a unified use plan.

Self-Audit Checklist

1. Pull a complete list of trademarks (including those under affiliated companies), noting the registration class and registration date of each;

2. Identify trademarks registered for three or more years with no record of use in the past three years;

3. Mark a disposal direction for each dormant trademark: continue use, license, transfer for monetization, or voluntarily cancel.

Recommended Actions

For dormant trademarks that still hold value, reactivate them as soon as possible through genuine use (including sales and promotion through online channels) and preserve evidence of use; for those with no real value, proactively cancel them rather than passively awaiting cancellation — under Article 49 of the new law, once a registrant applies to cancel its trademark, applications by others to register identical or similar trademarks on the same or similar goods will not be approved within one year from the date of the cancellation announcement. Proactive cancellation leverages this rule to create a one-year "isolation protection period," which is more controllable than passively awaiting cancellation and also prevents trademark resources from lying idle.

Self-Audit 2: Use Methods — "Scheming Trademarks" Become the Highest-Risk Area

Legal Basis

Article 56 of the new law provides that where a registered trademark is used in a manner that misleads the public (commonly known as a "scheming trademark"), the trademark enforcement authority shall order correction within a specified period; if correction is not made within that period, the trademark administration department of the State Council shall cancel the registered trademark. Article 70 further clarifies that any entity or individual has the right to file complaints or reports on such conduct; Article 2 brings trademark use conducted through the Internet and information networks within the scope of legal regulation — online use is no longer a regulatory blind spot.

Quick Penalty Reference (Article 56 of the New Law):

l Where the illegal business turnover exceeds RMB 50,000, a fine of up to five times the illegal business turnover may be imposed;

l Where there is no illegal business turnover or it is below RMB 50,000, a fine of up to RMB 250,000 may be imposed;

l If correction is not made within the specified period, the trademark administration department of the State Council shall cancel the registered trademark.

Risk Scenarios

1. On product packaging or e-commerce detail pages, the registered trademark is used in altered, split, or character-added/removed forms that do not match its registered form;

2. Fonts and layouts deliberately mimic well-known brands to create a "counterfeit look";

3. Marks used in livestream verbal promotion or overlay materials are inconsistent with the trademark on the registration certificate.

Self-Audit Checklist

1. Spot-check the packaging, labels, and instructions of products on sale, comparing whether the actual form of use matches the registered form;

2. Review trademark use on e-commerce platform stores, official websites, and livestream materials;

3. Screen for elements that deliberately imitate the visual design of others' well-known brands.

Recommended Actions

Immediately correct non-standard use, achieving "use it exactly as registered"; for marks that genuinely need to change, file a new application promptly rather than "making do." The cost of rectification is far lower than the price of a five-times fine plus cancellation of the trademark.

Self-Audit 3: Registration Portfolio — "Commercial Reasonableness" Becomes the New Examination Yardstick

Legal Basis

Article 19 of the new law makes clear that applications for trademark registration that are not for the purpose of use and clearly exceed normal business needs shall not be registered; where a trademark applicant's malicious filing conduct causes adverse effects, the trademark enforcement authority shall issue a warning and may also impose a fine of up to RMB 100,000, and trademark agencies that knowingly accept, or should have known about, such instructions also bear corresponding legal liability (Article 67). In addition, Article 14 of the new law lists "dynamic marks" alongside text, graphics, sound, and other elements as constituents of a trademark, opening the door for registering dynamic marks and combinations of dynamic marks with related elements — dynamic elements "seen by users every day," such as phone boot animations, dynamic software interfaces, and film and TV opening animations, for the first time have a clear channel for trademark registration.

Risk Scenarios

1. Multiple affiliated companies file for and hoard the same trade-name trademark;

2. Full-class "net-casting" defensive registrations far exceeding actual business needs;

3. Pending applications contain a large number of classes unrelated to the core business.

Self-Audit Checklist

1. Inventory all pending trademark applications, noting the actual business or clear use plan behind each;

2. Assess whether the total number of applications matches the scale of operations (product lines, business scope, development plans);

3. Identify new trademark elements worth protecting, such as dynamic marks.

Recommended Actions

For pending applications, prepare materials that demonstrate commercial reasonableness (product plans, market investment, brand strategy documents) for use in examination or opposition proceedings; applications that are truly unnecessary may be voluntarily withdrawn under the new rules. R&D teams may also think in reverse: dynamic elements that accompany users at high frequency — such as APP dynamic icons and boot animations — are now registrable brand assets. This is a new door the revision has opened for innovative enterprises.

Self-Audit 4: Monitoring and Evidence — A Shorter Opposition Window Requires a Rebuilt Response Mechanism

Legal Basis

Article 36 of the new law shortens the trademark opposition period from three months to two. For rights holders, the time to organize opposition evidence after discovering squatting registrations or counterfeits is compressed by one-third. Meanwhile, Article 76 strengthens enforcement evidence-gathering measures — when investigating suspected infringement, the trademark enforcement authority may examine and copy documents, records, business correspondence, audio-visual materials, electronic data, and the like related to the infringing activity, and may register and preserve evidence that might be lost or become difficult to obtain later; Article 77 clarifies that damages for infringement include the reasonable expenses paid by the rights holder to stop the infringing conduct.

Risk Scenarios

1. A fixed monthly monitoring rhythm may leave enterprises caught off guard within the two-month opposition window;

2. Evidence of use is scattered across marketing, e-commerce, and PR departments and has to be hastily assembled when needed;

3. Overlong opposition decision chains — layer-by-layer approval by legal, business, and agency teams — cause the window to be missed.

Self-Audit Checklist

1. Review the trademark monitoring frequency to confirm that sufficient opposition evidence preparation time remains after a suspected squatting registration is detected;

2. Streamline the opposition decision-making process, clarifying authorization paths and response deadlines;

3. Review the evidence archiving system: are sales contracts and invoices, advertising records, e-commerce page screenshots, livestream recordings, and exhibition photos systematically archived by trademark?

Recommended Actions

Adjust the monitoring cycle to once a week or every two weeks; prepare opposition statement templates and evidence pack frameworks in advance to compress the decision chain; build a trademark-dimensioned ledger of use evidence — it serves both as ammunition for opposition and invalidation proceedings and as self-protection evidence for responding to cancellation for non-use (online use now clearly counts). The standard for damages recovery has also changed: reasonable expenses paid to stop infringement can be claimed alongside damages, so every bit of investment in evidence preservation has a return channel.

Self-Audit 5: Enforcement and Going Global — Opportunities and Compliance in Upgraded Well-Known Trademark Protection

Legal Basis

Article 21 of the new law extends cross-class protection of well-known trademarks to prohibit squatting regardless of whether the mark is registered, aligning with international treaty rules; Article 63 changes "recognition" of well-known trademarks to "confirmation," curbing the tendency to seek "recognition" for honor's sake; Article 69 adds a new provision: in trademark cases occurring abroad, upon the request of the party concerned, the trademark administration department of the State Council may issue a confirmation document regarding the mark's fame among the relevant public in China, providing official evidentiary support for enforcing the mark overseas; Article 81 regulates malicious litigation — where trademark lawsuits are brought through malicious collusion, unilateral fabrication of basic facts, or similar means, the people's court shall impose penalties in accordance with law, and the responsible party shall bear civil liability for losses caused to others. In addition, Articles 65, 67, and 68 comprehensively strengthen the filing obligations and legal liability of trademark agencies (an agency that fails to file may be fined up to RMB 50,000, and non-compliant practitioners up to RMB 100,000).

Opportunities and Risks Coexist

1. When a core brand is squatted across classes, even an unregistered well-known trademark may obtain cross-class relief;

2. When facing overseas squatting in the course of going global, a confirmation of the mark's domestic well-known status may be requested from CNIPA to support local relief procedures;

3. When competitors use trademark litigation to attack a business, Article 81 provides a legal basis for countermeasures and claims (the specific application standards of this provision await further clarification by judicial practice).

Self-Audit Checklist

1. Review the accumulation of fame evidence for core brands: are sales data, advertising investment, award records, and media coverage systematically archived?

2. Check the compliance status of trademark agencies: have they filed as required, and are there any conflicts of interest?

3. Map trademark portfolios in key overseas markets and identify squatting risk points.

Recommended Actions

Incorporate brand fame evidence into the annual archiving system to prepare for possible future well-known trademark confirmation procedures; complete registration in target markets before going global, and promptly initiate the Article 69 confirmation procedure when squatting occurs; when selecting an agency, verify its filing and compliance record — under the new law, the compliance costs for agencies have risen sharply, and a compliant agency is the first line of defense for an enterprise's trademark risks.

Transition-Period Remediation Recommendations

There are still four months before the new law takes effect on January 1, 2027. We recommend completing the transition-period remediation at the following pace:

Time	Task	Deliverable
September 2026	Full inventory	Complete trademark list + use status marking + dormant trademark identification
October 2026	Key remediation	Disposal plan for dormant trademarks implemented; non-standard use corrected
November 2026	Portfolio optimization	Commercial reasonableness documentation for pending applications; layout of new elements such as dynamic marks; fame evidence archiving initiated
December 2026	Mechanism consolidation	Monitoring frequency adjusted; opposition response plan published; agency compliance confirmation completed

Conclusion

The new Trademark Law does not draw a starting line for enterprises but a compliance line: explain the business logic when registering, use the mark as registered, proactively clear out what is dormant, and present evidence when enforcing rights. The logic of trademark management is upgrading from certificate management to asset management.

ZYIP was founded in 2003 and has handled more than 85,000 Chinese trademark registration applications to date. It has been named to the TOP10 list of intellectual property agencies in the Greater Bay Area, rated an AAA+++ institution on the TOP100 Guangdong Trademark Agency Rights Confirmation list, and recommended as a China firm in "WTR Trademark 1000 2025," and selected for the TOP30 trademark agencies in "Bay Area Light 30 Years." Its trademark services cover more than 200 countries and regions worldwide, serving renowned enterprises including Ping An Group, vivo, DiDi Chuxing, and Chow Tai Fook on a long-term basis. During the transition period of the new law, our trademark team can provide enterprises with professional services such as compliance inventory of existing trademarks, disposal of dormant trademarks, dynamic mark portfolio planning, and overseas enforcement support.

Enterprises with related service needs are welcome to call the ZYIP hotline at 0755-82094518, or follow our official account and click "Contact - Online Customer Service" to reach us.