China Trademark Law 2027: 5 Things to Do Before Jan 1

On June 26, 2026, the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress passed the most sweeping revision of the Trademark Law since it was first enacted in 1983. The new law takes effect on January 1, 2027 -- that is roughly 90 days from now.

Eighty-seven articles across nine chapters. The old law had 73 articles in eight. That is 14 new articles, plus revisions to dozens of existing ones. If you own a trademark in China, or plan to register one, the rules of the game are changing in ways that affect how you monitor, defend, and maintain your marks.

Most analyses of the new law stop at listing the changes. That is useful -- Logo China Pro wrote one of those pieces here. But listing changes is not the same as knowing what to do about them. So this article is different. It is an action checklist. Five things. Each tied to a specific article in the new law, with a clear reason why the deadline matters and what happens if you do nothing.

Source: CNIPA Official Text of the Revised Trademark Law | Mayer Brown Legal Analysis | CMS Law Key Changes Summary | China Daily Report | Guangming Daily Trademark Report | Schiff Case Analysis (Wanhuida/IAM) | China Trademark Association Typical Case

Why This Deadline Is Different From Every Other "New Law" Headline

Logo China Pro has been filing trademarks in China for over a decade. A lot of "new regulation" announcements come and go. Most of them change nothing for the average brand owner.

This one does.

Three reasons:

First, the opposition window is literally shrinking. Article 36 cuts the opposition period from three months to two. That is not a minor procedural tweak. That is a 33 percent reduction in your reaction time. If your monitoring system takes three weeks to flag a conflicting application and your internal approval process takes another two weeks, you now have three weeks left to actually file. Under the old law, you had seven.

Second, the law introduces an objective test for bad faith applications that could catch your own defensive marks. Article 19 states that applications filed without intent to use and "clearly exceeding normal production or business operational needs" shall be refused. The old law's Article 4 said the same thing in vaguer terms. The new version removes the "bad faith" qualifier entirely. It is now an objective test based on volume versus business needs. If you filed 50 defensive registrations across 20 classes for a brand that operates in two product categories, that registration portfolio now looks very different under the new law.

Third, the consequences for inaction are concrete and immediate. Under Article 54, authorities can impose fines up to RMB 100,000 (approximately $14,910) for malicious filings that cause "negative influence." The law also gives CNIPA the power to proactively cancel trademarks on its own initiative -- a significant shift from the current system where cancellation requires a third-party challenge.

The window to prepare closes on January 1. After that, the new rules apply to every pending application, every opposition, and every enforcement action. Here is what you need to do before then.

Action 1: Audit Your China Trademark Portfolio -- Now, Not After Jan 1

What the new law changes: Article 19 creates an objective standard for refusing applications that exceed normal business needs. Article 49 eliminates the one-year waiting period after cancellation or invalidation, meaning competitors can immediately file for marks you lose.

What you need to do:

Pull up every trademark you hold in China -- not just the ones you actively use, but every defensive registration, every class you filed "just in case," every mark registered through a distributor or partner. For each one, ask three questions:

1. Is this mark actually in use? If a mark has been registered for three consecutive years without legitimate use, it is vulnerable to non-use cancellation under the new law. The revised law clarifies this rule in statutory language rather than leaving it in the Implementing Regulations where it was before. For a deeper dive, see Logo China Pro's guide on non-use cancellation.

2. Does this registration exceed your actual business scope? If you are a software company that registered your mark in Class 25 (clothing), Class 3 (cosmetics), and Class 30 (food) purely defensively, those registrations now carry risk under the new Article 19. The law does not yet define the boundary of "normal production or business operational needs," but the direction is clear: defensive overfiling is under scrutiny.

3. Who is listed as the registrant? If any of your marks are registered under a Chinese distributor's, agent's, or partner's name rather than your own company, the new law's expanded definition of "prior lawful interests" in Article 24 gives you stronger grounds to reclaim them -- but only if you act before bad-faith registrants exploit the transition period.

Deadline: Start this audit this week. If you find marks that are unused or overbroad, decide whether to (a) begin using them immediately, (b) file a voluntary partial cancellation to narrow the goods/services, or (c) accept the risk. The voluntary cancellation mechanism is newly codified in the revised law -- trademark owners can now formally apply to cancel all or part of their registrations, and rights terminate upon publication of the cancellation gazette rather than the application date.

Think of the Schiff brand case. Reckitt Benckiser spent 13 years and fought through 45 separate opposition, invalidation, and non-use cancellation proceedings before China's Supreme People's Court finally ruled in their favor in March 2026. A squatter named Jianglin Huo had filed 82 Schiff-related marks across 17 unrelated classes starting in 2011. Reckitt only gained traction when they shifted strategy and targeted the squatter's lack of actual use through non-use cancellation applications. The squatter did not even respond -- CNIPA cancelled the marks for non-use, and that became the turning point for the entire 13-year campaign. Source: Wanhuida/IAM The lesson: if you are not using your marks, the new law makes them easier to attack. If you are the legitimate owner, use evidence is your strongest weapon.

Action 2: Build Your Use Evidence File -- Before You Need It

What the new law changes: Article 78 strengthens the non-use defense in infringement litigation. If an accused infringer claims your mark is not in use, the court can require you to provide evidence of actual use in the three years before the alleged infringement. No evidence, no damages.

What you need to do:

This is the single most underrated preparation step, and it costs nothing but time. Start collecting and organizing evidence that your trademark is actively used in China. The revised law explicitly recognizes online use -- e-commerce listings, social media promotions, livestream sales -- as valid trademark use. This is the first time internet-based use has formal statutory recognition.

Here is what to gather:

• Sales records from Chinese e-commerce platforms (Tmall, JD.com, Pinduoduo, Douyin Shop). Export transaction histories with dates, product names, and your trademark clearly visible.
• Social media and digital marketing screenshots showing your trademark in use on WeChat Official Accounts, Xiaohongshu (RED), Douyin, Bilibili, or any platform where you promote products or services in China.
• Distribution and licensing agreements with Chinese partners, dated and signed. These prove authorized use even if you are not selling directly.
• Exhibition and trade show records -- Canton Fair participation in Guangzhou, industry events in Beijing and Shanghai, booth photos with your trademark displayed.
• Advertising contracts and invoices -- any paid promotion in Chinese media, online or offline.
• Product packaging photos showing the trademark, with dates.

Store all of this in a dated, organized folder -- not scattered across email threads and WeChat chats. When you need to prove use in an opposition, cancellation defense, or infringement case, having this file ready means the difference between a smooth process and a panicked scramble.

Under the old law, use evidence was important but often treated as secondary. Under the new law, it is front and center. Article 78 makes it a threshold requirement for claiming damages. No use evidence, no compensation -- even if the infringement is clear.

This is not theoretical. The China Trademark Association published a typical case in 2025 where a trademark owner submitted fake invoices and contracts to defend against a non-use cancellation challenge. The invoices showed the same amounts, dates, and contract terms across multiple submissions, but the trademark names on the documents did not match the mark under review. CNIPA cancelled the registration. The lesson is simple: the evidence you submit must be real, consistent, and clearly linked to the specific trademark in question. Source: China Trademark Association

Action 3: Review Your Monitoring System

You have one month less to react.

Article 36 cuts the opposition period from three months to two. If your monitoring takes three weeks to flag a conflict and your approval process takes another two weeks, you have three weeks left to file. Under the old law, you had seven. Here is the breakdown:

Old timeline (12 weeks total):

• Week 1-2: Monitoring flags a potentially conflicting application
• Week 3-4: Internal review and decision to oppose
• Week 5-8: Prepare and file opposition documents
• Week 9-12: Buffer for unexpected delays

New timeline (8 weeks total):

• Week 1-2: Monitoring flags a conflict
• Week 3-4: Decision + prepare documents
• Week 5-8: File opposition

That buffer -- the safety net you relied on when things went sideways -- is gone. If your monitoring takes more than two weeks to flag new applications, you are already behind.

Three things to fix before January 1:

1. Switch to weekly or daily monitoring if you are currently doing monthly checks. CNIPA's Beijing headquarters publishes new trademark applications regularly, and the two-month window means any detection delay is fatal.
2. Pre-authorize opposition decisions for clear-cut cases. Agree in advance with your legal team on filing criteria -- for example, identical marks in the same class, or phonetically similar marks in closely related classes. Remove the internal approval bottleneck.
3. Prepare opposition template documents in advance. Have evidence of prior use, brand recognition materials, and standard arguments ready to customize rather than drafting from scratch.

For a detailed walkthrough of the opposition process under the new two-month window, see Logo China Pro's opposition playbook.

This is not paranoia. A one-month reduction in response time fundamentally changes your risk profile. A conflicting application that would have been easy to oppose under the old timeline may now slip through because your process was too slow.

Action 4: Evaluate Your Defensive Registration Strategy

What the new law changes: Article 19 introduces the objective "exceeding normal business needs" test. Article 54 adds administrative penalties (up to RMB 100,000 / ~$14,910) for malicious filings causing negative influence. The CNIPA also gains proactive cancellation authority.

What you need to do:

If your company has historically filed broad defensive portfolios -- registering your mark across many classes where you do not currently operate -- the new law requires a strategic reassessment.

The key question is whether your defensive filings will be viewed as legitimate brand protection or as "exceeding normal production or business operational needs." The law does not yet provide clear guidance on where this line is drawn. However, based on the legislative intent expressed by the NPC Standing Committee -- targeting trademark hoarding and squatting -- large portfolios with little connection to actual business activity are at higher risk.

Three scenarios to evaluate:

Scenario A: You are a large multinational with a recognizable brand. Defensive registrations across related classes are generally defensible as part of a legitimate brand protection strategy. Large enterprises can argue that defensive filing falls within "normal production or business operational needs" given their scale and expansion plans. Prepare documentation supporting this argument -- business plans, market research, expansion timelines, brand portfolio strategies.

Scenario B: You are a small or medium-sized business with a few defensive marks. If you registered your mark in 3-5 classes but only operate in one, the extra registrations are vulnerable. Consider whether to (a) narrow the goods/services through voluntary partial cancellation, (b) begin actual use in those classes before January 1, or (c) accept that some defensive marks may need to be abandoned.

Scenario C: You registered marks through a distributor or agent who filed broadly. This is the highest-risk scenario. Not only are the marks potentially vulnerable under Article 19, but the registrant is not your company. The new Article 24 strengthens your ability to reclaim these marks by replacing "improper means" with "intentional" pre-emptive registration -- making it easier to prove bad faith. But you need evidence of your prior use and the business relationship to succeed.

For context on how trademark squatters operate and the evidence you need to counter them, see Logo China Pro's squatter guide.

Here is a real example of what the new law is targeting. According to a September 2026 report in Guangming Daily, a Shenzhen company registered over 600 trademarks across 13 product categories -- far beyond any legitimate business need. The company used these marks primarily to file infringement lawsuits against small businesses, extracting settlements through litigation pressure. CNIPA investigated and declared all 600+ marks invalid, citing a clear violation of the good-faith principle. Source: Guangming Daily Under the new Article 19, this type of massive overfiling will be refused at the application stage, before it ever reaches the registration phase.

Action 5: Register Your Chinese Brand Name

Here is the reality most foreign brand owners do not want to hear: if you do business in China or plan to, your brand already has a Chinese name. Your customers in Shanghai use it. Your distributors in Beijing use it. Your competitors in Guangzhou know it. The question is not whether a Chinese name exists -- the question is whether you own it.

This action item is not triggered by one specific article. It is a consequence of the overall environment the new law creates: stricter application scrutiny, faster opposition timelines, and active CNIPA enforcement. And it makes your exposure more dangerous, not less:

• The opposition window is shorter. If someone files your Chinese brand name after January 1, you have only two months to catch it and oppose. Under the old three-month window, many brand owners missed conflicts because their monitoring was too slow. With two months, the margin for error is nearly zero.
• CNIPA can now proactively cancel marks. If your Chinese name was registered by someone else in bad faith, the new law gives authorities more tools to act on their own -- but this process is unpredictable. Relying on CNIPA to police this for you is not a strategy.
• The "prior lawful interests" standard in Article 24 is broader. This helps you reclaim your Chinese name if someone else registered it, but it requires evidence of your prior use and the other party's intentional copying. The earlier you register, the stronger your position.

For a detailed guide on choosing and registering a Chinese brand name, see Logo China Pro's Chinese name strategy article. And if you need help searching whether your Chinese name is already registered, Logo China Pro's CNIPA search guide walks you through the process step by step.

Do this before January 1: Conduct a search for your brand's Chinese name, pinyin transliteration, and any common nicknames your customers use. If any are available, file applications immediately. If any are already registered by someone else, evaluate whether to oppose (if within the publication window) or prepare an invalidation action.

The 90-Day Countdown: What Happens If You Do Nothing

Your trademark portfolio sits exactly as it does today -- some marks actively used, some sitting dormant for years, some registered in classes far from your actual business. A competitor or squatter files an application that conflicts with one of your core marks. Under the old law, you would have had three months to notice and respond. Under the new law, you have two. If your monitoring system is not set up to catch applications within days of publication, you might not even know about it until the registration is granted.

Meanwhile, someone challenges one of your unused defensive marks. Under the new law, CNIPA has the authority to cancel it proactively. Or a court, in an infringement case, asks you for three years of use evidence that you never organized. No evidence, no damages.

None of this is hypothetical. These are specific scenarios enabled by specific articles in a law that takes effect in 90 days.

The good news is that all five actions in this checklist are within your control. None of them require waiting for government guidance or regulatory clarification. They are practical steps that any brand owner with a China trademark portfolio can start today.

The question is whether you will.

FAQ: China Trademark Law 2027 -- What Brand Owners Need to Know

When exactly does the new Trademark Law take effect?

January 1, 2027. The law was passed on June 26, 2026, by the 23rd session of the 14th NPC Standing Committee and signed by President Xi via Presidential Order No. 77. Source: CNIPA

Does the new law apply to trademarks registered before January 1, 2027?

Yes. Article 87 of the revised law states: "Trademarks registered before this law takes effect shall continue to be valid." However, the new rules on opposition periods, cancellation procedures, and enforcement apply to all actions taken on or after January 1, 2027 -- regardless of when the mark was originally registered.

What is the biggest change for foreign brand owners?

The shortened opposition period (Article 36: three months to two months) has the most immediate operational impact. If your monitoring and response processes are calibrated to the old timeline, you need to compress them now. The second biggest change is Article 19's objective test for applications exceeding normal business needs, which affects defensive filing strategies.

Will my existing defensive trademark registrations be cancelled automatically?

No. The new law does not trigger automatic cancellations. However, Article 19 creates a new basis for refusing applications that exceed normal business needs, and CNIPA gains proactive cancellation authority. Your defensive marks are not immediately at risk, but they are more vulnerable to challenge -- both from third parties and from CNIPA's own review. Review your portfolio and prepare justification materials before the law takes effect.

How much is the fine for malicious trademark filings under the new law?

Article 54 specifies a warning and/or fine of up to RMB 100,000 (approximately $14,910 at current exchange rates) for bad-faith filings that cause "negative influence." This applies to the filer. Trademark agencies that knowingly assist prohibited filings face fines up to RMB 200,000 under Articles 67-68. Source: China Daily

What counts as "trademark use" under the new law?

Article 2 of the revised law explicitly defines trademark use to include use via the internet and other information networks. This is the first statutory recognition of digital use. Valid forms of use include: e-commerce product listings (Tmall, JD.com, etc.), social media promotions (WeChat, Xiaohongshu, Douyin), livestream sales, digital advertising, and traditional offline use (packaging, print ads, exhibitions). Source: CMS Law

Can I still file defensive trademarks after January 1, 2027?

Yes, but with greater caution. The new Article 19 requires that applications not "clearly exceed normal production or business operational needs." Large enterprises with documented brand protection strategies can still file defensively, but should prepare supporting materials (business plans, market research, expansion timelines) to justify the scope of their filings if challenged.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Trademark law is complex and fact-specific. For advice on your particular situation, consult a qualified trademark professional. Logo China Pro provides trademark filing coordination services, not legal representation.