On 22 December 2025, the Draft Amendment to the Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China (PRC) was submitted for its first reading at the 19th Session of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress. On the 25th, the Standing Committee conducted group deliberations on the draft amendment. On the morning of the 27th, the website of the National People's Congress published the Draft Amendment to the Trademark Law of the PRC for soliciting opinions.
The first plenary session of the 19th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress convened at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on the morning of 22 December. To strengthen trademark protection, promote trademark utilisation, address prominent issues in practice, and advance high-quality economic development, the State Council submitted a motion for deliberation on the Draft Amendment to the Trademark Law of the PRC. Entrusted by the State Council, Shen Changyu, Director of the China National Intellectual Property Administration, delivered an explanatory statement.
Shen Changyu stated that the current Trademark Law, enacted in 1983 and amended four times since, has played a positive role in protecting exclusive trademark rights and advancing the development of the socialist market economy. By the end of 2024, China had accumulated 83.523 million trademark registration applications, with 49.777 million valid registered trademarks, ranking first globally in both metrics. Concurrently, new challenges have emerged in the trademark field, including persistent malicious trademark registrations; widespread tendencies towards ‘over-registration and under-use’ of trademarks, coupled with increasingly sophisticated forms of improper trademark utilisation; persistently high levels of trademark infringement; and occasional instances of excessive enforcement or malicious litigation by trademark registrants. Addressing these prominent practical issues necessitates amending the current Trademark Law.
Shen Changyu explained that this revision adopts a problem-oriented approach, focusing on prominent issues within the trademark field. It aims to refine the systems for trademark registration, management, and protection, while elevating certain established practices from the field to statutory law. The draft amendment comprises nine chapters and 84 articles, with the principal modifications outlined below:
Clarify the overarching requirements for trademark work to serve high-quality development. Add provisions stipulating that trademark work shall implement the Party and state's intellectual property strategy; clarify the division of responsibilities for trademark registration, administration, and enforcement; introduce a definition of trademarks, emphasising that applications for registration and the use of trademarks must not harm national interests, public interests, or the lawful rights and interests of others.
Define trademark registration criteria to standardise trademark registration. A dedicated chapter consolidates and refines the previously dispersed provisions on trademark registration conditions. It explicitly prohibits the use of the name, flag, emblem, or medals of the Communist Party of China as trademarks; introduces provisions allowing ‘dynamic marks’ to be registered as trademarks; and stipulates that colour combinations, sounds, or dynamic effects arising solely from the nature of the goods themselves, necessary to achieve a technical effect, or giving the goods substantial value, shall not be registered as trademarks. Clarifying that applications for trademark registration made without genuine intent to use and manifestly exceeding normal business needs shall not be registered; strengthening protection for well-known trademarks by extending the prohibition against squatting on others' registered well-known trademarks to goods that are not dissimilar or unrelated, regardless of whether such trademarks are registered.
Enhancing trademark administration to uphold fair market competition. Specifying circumstances constituting malicious trademark applications and corresponding penalty levels; Regulate improper trademark usage by introducing provisions for imposing fines or revoking trademarks used in a manner misleading to the public. Clarify the management, usage obligations, and legal liabilities of collective and certification trademark registrants. Promote trademark utilisation by authorising the State Council's trademark administration department to proactively revoke registered trademarks that have become generic terms or remain unused without legitimate reason for three consecutive years. Strengthen regulations governing trademark agencies and practitioners.
Source:
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(Chinese)
