Rules/Procedure on Trademark Substantial Examination in China
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China trademark examination procedures are carried out on the legal basis of Chinese trademark law. On October 30, 2016, the Trademark Registration Application Division of the Trademark Office of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (CTMO) made an official announcement regarding reforms to the trademark filing formality examination process, which entails speeding up the overall examination term from six months to three months.
1. The examination on trademarks of Chinese characters
(1) If a trademark is consisted of Chinese character(s) and Pinyin, and the Pinyin corresponds to the pronunciation of the Chinese, the trademark shall be searched through Chinese and the Pinyin separately.
(2) If a trademark is consisted of Chinese character(s) written in Li, Cao, Zhuan Calligraphy, or in the original complex form, the trademark shall be searched by the corresponding simplified Chinese. If the character(s) of a trademark is/are in an artistic or a graphic form, but the Chinese can still be recognized, the trademark shall be searched by Chinese character and Pinyin separately.
(3) If a trademark consists a wrongly-written or new-designed character which does not obey the Standard Spoken and Written Chinese Language Law of the People’s Republic of China, the trademark application shall be overruled by Item 8 of Article 10.1 of the Trademark Law of the People’s Republic of China.
2. Examination on the trademark of Pinyin
If a trademark is consisted of Pinyin, the trademark shall be searched by Pinyin and English separately.
3. Examination on the trademark of foreign language
(1) A trademark in English shall be confirmed whether it has meaning. A trademark with meaning shall be translated into Chinese, and be searched by Chinese character and Pinyin separately; a trademark with several meanings shall be translated into Chinese in the main and common meaning, and be searched by Chinese and Pinyin separately.
(2) When a trademark that is consisted of several common-use foreign words with meaning, if the combination of words has definite meaning, the trademark shall be translated into Chinese, and be searched by Chinese and Pinyin separately.
(3) When a trademark can be spelled and read in Pinyin, no matter whether it has meaning, the trademark shall be searched by English and Pinyin separately.
(4) If a trademark in foreign language can be expressed with English letters, the trademark shall be searched in English; if it cannot be expressed with English letters, the trademark shall be searched by graphic trademark.
4. Examination on digital trademark
A trademark is consisted, or partly consisted of Arabic numbers shall be searched by the Arabic numbers, the corresponding Chinese and Pinyin separately.
5. Examination on graphic trademark
(1) When examining a graphic trademark, if the device of the trademark is blurred even if it is looked through the program “See the device”, the trademark application shall be returned to formal examination.
(2) When examining a graphic trademark, it shall be searched in the registration library and standard dictionary library.
(3) When examining a graphic trademark, if the examiner thinks it necessary, he/she may search with the element of device additionally.
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