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New Rules for Suspension of Trade Mark Examination introduced by the China National Intellectual Property Administration (“CNIPA”)

China
10/07/2023
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CNIPA has recently announced new rules governing suspension requests during trade mark review procedures (i.e. filings and examinations). The new rules are aiming to reduce the costs and burden on legal rights holders when obtaining trade mark rights.

The new rules emphasise that examination will only be suspended if the determination of prior rights or other circumstances during the trial will have a substantial impact on the examination result.

The rules have specifically stipulated seven scenarios where examination will be suspended, including where the cited mark is in the process of being renewed, where the cited mark has been cancelled, invalidated or expired for less than a year, and where the case involving the cited mark has been concluded and is waiting for the decision to take effect. Additionally, the rules have laid out three scenarios where examination may be suspended, including where the owner of the cited mark has been determined a bad faith applicant in other cases.

To create a reasonable period of examination, the rules state that the applicant should request the suspension within the three-month supplementary period after any review is filed, providing the details of the action taken against the cited mark in written statement.

The new approach by CNIPA has been presented as a solution to deal with the ongoing large volume of trade mark filings in China.  The ongoing volume of filing is probably a result of many of us needing to re-file for our clients when blocked or refused by bad faith third parties or awaiting cancellation outcomes – so here’s hoping the suspensions will put an end to that and save money, time and effort for our client’s, our foreign counsel and CNIPA themselves.

Article co-authored by Beth Wilson, Trainee Solicitor

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