Adopted: June 26, 2026    

Effective Date: January 1, 2027

3. Regulation on Trademark Hoarding & Bad‑faith Applications

3.1 Statutory Ban on Trademark Hoarding without Genuine Use Intention

Statutory Provision: Article 19

Old Rule: ……Bad‑faith trademark applications not intended for use shall be rejected.  And …the registration of a trademark has been acquired by fraud or any other unfair means, the Trademark Office shall declare the registered trademark invalid…

New Rule: A trademark registration application filed without bona fide intent to use and manifestly beyond the requirements of normal production‑and‑business operations shall be refused.

No trademark application shall be filed through fraud or any other unfair means.

Practical Impact for Foreign Clients

Article 19 sets forth an absolute ground for refusal at application stage, and eliminate the subjective bad‑faith requirement and imposing two cumulative objective conditions: without bona fide intent to use and manifestly beyond the requirements of normal production‑and‑business operations.  For foreign applicant:

• Defensive filings are permitted, but large‑scale hoarding of dormant trademarks is prohibited. Foreign applicants shall refrain from excessive cross‑class defensive registrations and indiscriminate hoarding of trademarks irrelevant to actual or foreseeable business operations.  Defensive applications shall be filed in core classes and for key confusingly‑similar trademarks. For applications pertaining to non‑core classes, trademark watching may be relied on and opposition or invalidation can be initiated only in case of third‑party’s trademark squatting.

•Applicants are advised to compile commercial evidence for actual or planned trademark use, including but not limited to product planning, market‑expansion strategies and sales contracts. For applications that go beyond existing core business, prepare written explanations with sound commercial justifications beforehand. Where a newly‑filed trademark application gets rejected due to suspected trademark hoarding, the aforesaid documents can be furnished as supporting evidence.

3.2 Administrative Penalties for Bad‑Faith Trademark Filings

Statutory Provision: Article 54

Practical Impact for Foreign Clients

In addition to refusal and invalidation, Bad‑Faith Trademark Filings that produces adverse effects may attract administrative sanctions, including a warning and a fine not exceeding RMB 100,000. It is recommended that applicants avoid hoarding a large number of trademarks.