China Trademark Law 2027: Is your brand ready?

On June 26, 2026, the 23rd session of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People’s Congress adopted the comprehensively revised Trademark Law of the People’s Republic of China (the “New Trademark Law”). The New Trademark Law will enter into force on 1 January 2027.

This is the first time the Trademark Law has been systematically and comprehensively revised since it first took effect in 1983. The New Trademark Law introduces significant changes to key provisions, including trademark registration requirements , the management of trademark use, and legal remedies.

These changes will directly affect how German and European companies’ manage trademark applications, regulate trademark use, preserve evidence, resolve disputes and structure their global trademark portfolios. The key provisions of the New Trademark Law are outlined below:

Key Changes at a Glance

Stricter action against bad-faith trademark applications

The New Trademark Law specifies that a trademark application will be refused if it is filed without a genuine intent to use and clearly exceeds the normal needs of the applicant’s production or business needs. It also expressly prohibits applications made by deception or any other improper means. This “clearly exceeds normal production or business needs” test provides a more concrete and enforceable standard for addressing bad faith filings and trademark hoarding.

The New Trademark Law also introduces a specific administrative sanction for malicious applicants. If a bad-faith application has adverse effects, the applicant may receive a warning and a fine of up to 100,000 RMB. Thus, a bad-faith application now carries not only procedural risks, such as refusal, opposition, invalidation, as well as an independent administrative liability.

Ex officio cancellation and strengthened preservation of trademark use evidence

In addition to third-party cancellation actions, the trademark administrative authority may also cancel a registered trademark ex officio.

The clean-up of idle trademarks will no longer depend solely on voluntary applications. Trademarks that have not been used for years, or that are held to block competitors or put pressure on opponents, now face a higher risk of ex officio cancellation. German and European companies should therefore quickly create a trademark use ledger and systematically classify their portfolio into core, backup, and defensive marks. They must also proactively preserve their trademark use evidence on a regular basis.

In the trademark infringement litigation, the trademark owners may be required to provide evidence of trademark use within three years prior to the alleged infringing act, when claiming damages in civil litigation. Failure to provide such evidence will result in the claim for damages being denied.

The new Trademark Law expressly recognizes the use of trademarks on the Internet and other information networks. Consequently, preserving online evidence of use is essential in today’s digital e-commerce era.

Shortened opposition period and heightened regular market-monitoring demands

The New Trademark Law shortens the opposition period after a preliminary examination publication from three months to two months. This accelerates the registration process and reduces the waiting period for uncontested applications. At the same time, it requires prior intellectual property right holders to act faster. Trademark owners will need to monitor the Trademark Gazette more closely and check internal records quickly. They also need to gather evidence, appoint qualified intellectual property agents without delay, and file oppositions in due course.

For German and European companies with complex product portfolios, routine market monitoring and trademark watch services on a regular basis will become even more important.

Regulating misleading use of registered trademarks

The New Trademark Law expressly identifies the misleading use of registered trademarks as an illegal act and introduces penalties for such misleading use. Fines can reach up to five times the illegal turnover if the business turnover exceeds RMB 50,000. If there is no measurable turnover, fines may reach up to RMB 250,000. Failure to rectify the situation within the prescribed period may result in the cancellation of the registered trademarks. This provision aims to prevent the misleading use of registered trademarks that could mislead consumer about the nature, quality, ingredients, origin or characteristics of the goods or services. Furthermore, the new Trademark Law introduces a formal public complaint and reporting mechanism for misleading trademark use and infringement.

Enhanced quality controls in trademark licence agreements

The 2019 Trademark Law requires the licensor to supervise the quality of products and goods bearing the licensed trademark. It also requires the licensee to ensure the quality of the goods bearing the registered trademark. The new law further stipulates that if the licensee fails to fulfill its quality-guarantee obligation, the licensor has the right to terminate the trademark license agreement.

License agreements should therefore emphasize quality standards, inspection mechanisms, remediation periods, evidence retention, and termination conditions.

Revised method for calculating infringement damages

The New Trademark Law strengthens the protection of trademark owners by revising the method used to calculate infringement damages. Rather than using the previous formula, “first actual loss; if loss is difficult to determine, then the infringer’s profit,” the new law uses a parallel structure that permits either the actual loss or the infringer’s profit to serve as the basis for compensation. Additionally, the law expressly requires that damages for violations of exclusive trademark rights also cover the reasonable expenses incurred by the trademark owner to stop the infringement. These may include attorney’s fees, notarization costs, and other similar expenditures. This provision further safeguards the legitimate interests of trademark owners.

Legislative Orientation

These key reforms mark a shift in the trademark system. The focus shifts from a model driven by registration quantity to a system that prioritizes genuine use, market order, consumer protection and brand value. The reforms aim to correct the longstanding bias in favor of registration over actual use. The reforms also embed core principles such as the protection of commercial order, reasonable use and good faith conduct directly into the legislation.

Under the new Trademark Law, the focus extends far beyond merely protecting rights. It now covers the entire trademark lifecycle, including:

• Acquisition of rights
• Brand management strategies
• Preservation of evidence of online and offline use
• Trademark monitoring
• Compliance risk management
• IP enforcement

In short, the new Trademark Law shifts from a registration-focused approach to a comprehensive framework that safeguards both the legal and commercial interests of trademark owners throughout the lifespan of their trademarks.

What should trademark owners review before 2027?

The new Trademark Law will enter into force on January 1, 2027. During the transition period, German and European companies should take the following precautionary steps:

Conduct a comprehensive trademark portfolio review

Companies should verify that their existing trademark portfolio accurately reflects the company’s current products, services, and market focus. They should ensure that their house mark (primary brand name) in Latin, trade name (brand component in the corporate name), and their Chinese equivalents (normally the phonetic rendering of the Latin mark) are adequately registered and protected under Chinese law. Companies should also check if certain product names should be registered as trademarks in China.

Evaluate the current status of trademark use

Companies should review how their registered trademarks are used in advertisements, product packaging and labeling, promotional materials such as brochures and flyers, online stores on e-commerce platforms such as Tmall, Taobao and Jingdong as well as on social media channels such as WeChat, Red Book, WeiBo and Douyin.

Companies should also review whether any registered trademarks are being used in a manner that may mislead the public about the nature, quality or origin of the product. Trademark use must comply with the revised legal requirements. This minimizes the potential risk of public complaints and administrative penalties arising from misleading use.

Collect and preserve the trademark use evidence on regular basis

The new Trademark Law expressly treats internet use as trademark use. Therefore, German and European companies should therefore establish a systematic record-keeping system for trademark use. This kind of system should:

• Preserve traditional documents, such as contracts, invoices and advertising materials.
• Systematically archive digital evidence, including website screenshots, social media posting logs, livestream recordings and e-commerce product page captures.
• Use timestamping or other blockchain-based technology to certify the online evidence, when appropriate.

Strengthen routine market monitoring and trademark watch

Given that the opposition period will be shortened to two months, trademark owners must strengthen their market monitoring and trademark watch procedures. This will help ensure that action against potentially conflicting applications can be filed within the statutory deadlines.

In certain cases, companies should also conduct targeted analyses of competitors’ trademark activities.