Annual Report of China's Trademark Office on Trademark Examination and Trial in the Year of 2021

Recently, the Trademark Office of China National Intellectual Property Administration published the Annual Report regarding trademark examination and trial in the year of 2021. Some important figures are highlighted in the annual review:

 

l                      7.74 million

 

In 2021, the number of trademark registrations reached 7.739 million, an increase of 34.33% over the last year. Among them, 7.543 million trademark registrations were registered by domestic entities, accounting for 97.5%; 194,000 trademark registrations were registered by foreign entities, accounting for 2.5%. At the same time, there have been 10.56 million national applications for registration and 61,343 International registration extended to China in 2021, which is 20.31% increase comparing with the application number of 2020.

 

l                      4 months

The average examination period of trademark registrations remains stable at 4 months if there is no office action for amendment or refusal. For trademark applications under normal circumstances, adding the 3-month opposition period, the whole period from application submission to registration had been shortened to 7 months in total.

 

As additional information, though not mentioned in said report, we further summarize the average actual time periods incurred for other types of trademark cases at the CNIPA according to current practice in 2022:

 

Type of Case	Examination Period (Month)
Review on Refusal	7-10
Opposition	10-12
Invalidation	10-12
Non-use Cancellation	6-8
Review of Non-use Cancellation	6-8
Recordal of Change of Address/Name	2-4
Recordal of Change of Agent	1-2
Recordal of Trademark License	2-4
Renewal	2
Assignment	5
Issuance of Certified Copy of Registration Certification for International Registration Designated to China	2-4

 

 

l                      482,000

 

482 thousand trademark applications have been identified in 2021 as malicious trademark applications not for the purpose of use and have been dealt with in accordance with the law. To strictly implement a special action plan for cracking down on trademarks filed with bad faith, the Trademark Office rejected ex officio 1,628 trademark applications filed with obvious bad faith and harming the public interests, and invalidated ex officio 1,729 registered trademarks.

 

l                      China regarding use of IR trademark application system in 3rd Place globally

 

In 2021, the Trademark Office received 5,928 new applications for international trademark registrations under the Madrid Protocol, ranking third place among the members of Madrid Union. The online application system for international trademark registrations has been continuously improved and optimized. By the end of 2021, 97% of applications have been filed via CNIPA’s online system.