Bad Faith TM Applicants, Bad News

Home | China Law Blog | Bad Faith TM Applicants, Bad News The China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) has published a draft revision of the country's Trademark Law and called for comments from the public. In our first post on the potential implications of the revised law for international brands, we looked at proposed changes to the definition of what constitutes a trademark and the absolute grounds for China Trademark Office refusal of a trademark application. Today we turn our attention to the draft law's provisions regarding bad faith trademark applications. Bad faith trademark applications have long been a grave problem for international brands. I know of a company that had to pay $250,000 to secure its own trademark from someone who had registered the same in bad faith—and surely there are others that have paid even more. CNIPA has acknowledged that China's current Trademark Law has proven ineffective in dealing with the problem. It therefore comes as no surprise that combatting bad faith trademark applications more effectively is one of the priorities of the draft revision, as evidenced by its numerous provisions on the subject. Article 22 of the draft revision identifies a number of circumstances in which an application would be in bad faith, two of which international brands encounter fairly often. One involves applying for a large number of trademark registrations without an intent to use them. This essentially refers to trademark squatting, where someone registers trademarks for the sole purpose of trying to score a payday if someone else (often a foreign brand that has been using the trademark elsewhere) wants to secure the trademark. The second circumstance that international brands regularly face is an application that infringes on their prior existing rights or interests, or where someone seeks to register a trademark that has already been used by the international brand and has certain influence (一定影响). Applications of this kind are prohibited by the draft revision's Article 23. Sometimes, these bad faith trademark applications are filed by squatters, who have no intention of using the trademark. In other cases, however, the bad faith applicant may be seeking to use the trademark, or prevent the legitimate owner from using it. One example of a prior existing right (现有的在先权利) that might be infringed by a bad faith trademark application is a copyright held by the brand over its logo. Due to China's treaty obligations, an international brand might enjoy copyright protection over the logo in China, even if it has not registered that copyright in China (or indeed anywhere else). This is in contrast to trademark rights, which only arise in China through registration in China, except in very limited circumstances. Interestingly, the draft revision's Article 23 would add the term "interests" (权益) to the universe of what can be infringed by a bad faith trademark applications. This addition may reflect a move to broaden the scope of the circumstances under which a party that does not have a prior trademark or intellectual property registration in China (or at least an unregistered trademark that it has used in China) can combat a trademark application that potentially harms it. This is speculation, but interests could potentially include situations where a brand's ability to disrupt its exports out of China is threatened by a bad faith trademark registrant's ability to record the bad faith trademark with China Customs. Under the draft revision, the penalties for bad-faith registration will become more severe and the remedies for bad-faith registration will become more dynamic. In some cases, fines of up to RMB 250,000 (~$36,855) could be imposed on a bad faith trademark applicant. The new Article 48 also clarifies that someone who registers a trademark in bad faith will be liable for infringement of a trademark it registers in bad faith, even for uses of the trademark that take place when the party in question is technically the owner of the brand. Affected parties will also be able to request that a trademark registered in bad faith be transferred to them. With bad faith applications at the top of the list of problems faced by international (and Chinese) brands seeking trademark protection in China, the draft revision's proposals are good news for just about everyone other than bad actors themselves. The interests of fairness will no doubt be served by moving away from a system that formalistically prioritizes earlier trademark applications, without regard for real-world circumstances, such as actual use of the trademark in China and the increasingly transnational way in which consumers are exposed to trademarks. This all said, the draft revision is just that, a draft. It will still take some time for the proposals to come into effect, and even then, how exactly the new provision are enforced remains to be seen. It is still critical for brands to be extremely diligent when it comes to registering their trademarks in China. Check Out Our China Law Services Share Twitter Facebook LinkedIn E-mail Comment Fred Rocafort Fred leads Harris Sliwoski’s intellectual property practice and is the coordinator of the firm’s international team. Much of Fred’s practice consists of helping cannabis businesses protect their brands. He also works with entrepreneurs and companies entering the Web3 space, a new frontier for IP law. Prior to joining Harris Sliwoski, Fred worked overseas for more than a decade, in both government and private sector roles. Fred is a regular contributor to the award-winning China Law Blog and Canna Law Blog. Fred began his career overseas as a U.S. consular officer in Guangzhou, China, where he advocated for fairer treatment of American companies and citizens in China and for stronger intellectual property rights enforcement. After entering the private sector, Fred worked at a Shanghai law firm as a foreign legal advisor and later joined one of the oldest American law firms in China, helping foreign companies navigate the Chinese legal environment. He also led the legal team at a Hong Kong-based brand protection consultancy, spending most of his time out in the field, protecting clients against counterfeiters and fraudsters in Greater China, Southeast Asia and Latin America. In addition to his IP work, as a native Spanish speaker, Fred works closely with different Harris Sliwoski teams on Latin America and Spain matters. Fred also provides advice to cannabis industry participants and other businesses on import and export transactions. Fred is an ardent supporter of FC Barcelona—and would be even in the absence of Catalan forebears who immigrated to Puerto Rico in the mid-1800s. Harris Sliwoski Attorney Read more posts [email protected] Read More Intellectual Property (IP) Related Posts September 15, 2026 Your AI-Drafted China Contract Says It Needs a Lawyer. Listen to It. September 11, 2026 Forensic Accountants in China Business Litigation: How True Numbers Can Tell the Wrong Story September 4, 2026 China NNN Agreement or Trademark Registration? You Usually Need Both September 1, 2026 AI Didn't Replace Lawyers. It Gave Us the 48-Page Contract. August 27, 2026 Do I Need a China NNN Agreement or a China Manufacturing Agreement? Usually Both. 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