Trademarks
Targets a preliminarily approved application during its publication window.
Challenges a registration on statutory grounds such as prior rights or bad faith.
Targets a registration unused for the statutory three-year period without proper reason.
The 2026 revised Trademark Law takes effect on 1 January 2027 and may affect later actions.
Send us the issue, the relevant rights, and any deadline. We will route it to the right practice lead within one business day.
Contact UsBegin with the official record. Is the conflicting mark pending, preliminarily approved and published, registered, renewed, assigned, cancelled, or already under challenge? Opposition is tied to the publication window. Invalidation and non-use cancellation generally address registered rights, but they test different facts.
A private database alert or marketplace listing is not enough. Confirm the official application number, owner, filing date, goods or services, current status, publication date, and deadlines.
Under the law currently in force, an opposition must be filed during the three-month publication period. It can prevent a problematic application from becoming a registration and may offer a cleaner procedural position than attacking it later. The available grounds and who may rely on them depend on the objection.
Prepare prior-right evidence, relationship or bad-faith facts, mark comparison, goods analysis, and authorisations before publication where monitoring reveals a repeat filer.
Invalidation is appropriate where the registration conflicts with prior rights, was obtained through prohibited or bad-faith conduct, or otherwise violates statutory registration rules. Some grounds have standing and time limits; others may be raised more broadly. Evidence should be built around the exact legal ground rather than a general narrative that the result feels unfair.
Where the registrant had a distributor, manufacturing, employment, or other relationship with the brand owner, preserve communications and the timeline of access to the mark.
Once the statutory conditions are met, non-use cancellation shifts attention to whether the registrant can prove genuine use during the relevant period. It can be effective against defensive registrations and squatters with no real business, even where bad faith is difficult to prove.
Non-use does not decide ownership of the brand for every purpose. The challenger should coordinate the cancellation with its own applications, use plan, and any settlement or coexistence discussion.
A refusal review, opposition, invalidation, non-use cancellation, civil action, negotiation, and fresh application may operate together. Map the desired outcome, dependency, cost, and evidence for each path. More proceedings do not automatically mean more leverage if their positions conflict or their timing leaves the business exposed.
The governing statute and procedure should be checked against the filing date. China's 2026 revised Trademark Law is published but does not take effect until 1 January 2027.
CNIPA: Trademark Law (2019 Amendment, currently effective)
This article is general information about Chinese IP practice, not legal advice for a specific matter. It was last reviewed on 2026-08-21. Rules, fees, and timelines change; confirm current requirements before acting. For advice on your situation, contact our team.