Amendment Of China’s Trademark Law – Key Implications For Brand Owners.

The revisions enhance the existing legal landscape with beneficial updates to brand owners, particularly with respect to well-known trademark protection and counteracting bad-faith conduct across the trademark lifecycle. This alert outlines the key changes and their practical implications for brand owners. Under the New Law, well-known trademarks will be afforded cross-class protection even if brand owners do not have a trademark registration in China. However, brand owners will still be required to prove the well-known status of their trademarks when making a well-known trademark claim in China. Trademark Application – Article 19 (Bad-Faith Applications): The current Trademark Law prohibits bad faith applications of trademarks lacking “intent to use”.