(Promulgated by Order No. 63 of the State Administration for Market Regulation on October 27, 2022; Effective as of December 1, 2022)

These Provisions are formulated in accordance with the Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as the Trademark Law), the Regulations for the Implementation of the Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as the Implementing Regulations of the Trademark Law), and other relevant laws and regulations, for the purposes of regulating trademark agency acts, improving the quality of trademark agency services, maintaining the normal order of the trademark agency market, and promoting the sound development of the trademark agency industry.

Entrusted by clients, a trademark agency may, in the name of the client and within the scope of agency authority, lawfully handle the following matters:(1) Trademark registration application;(2) Trademark alteration, renewal, assignment and cancellation;(3) Trademark opposition;(4) Trademark revocation and invalidation declaration;(5) Trademark review and settlement of trademark disputes;(6) Other trademark-related matters.

For the purpose of these Provisions, a trademark agency includes service institutions lawfully registered by market entity registration authorities to engage in trademark agency business, and law firms engaging in trademark agency business.

Trademark agencies and trademark agency practitioners shall abide by laws, regulations and relevant state provisions, follow the principle of good faith, observe professional ethics, standardize professional conduct, improve the quality of trademark agency services, and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of clients as well as the normal order of the trademark agency market.

For the purpose of these Provisions, trademark agency practitioners include the person-in-charge of a trademark agency, and staff members assigned by the agency to undertake trademark agency business.

Trademark agency practitioners shall abide by laws and disciplines, enjoy good credit standing and personal conduct, be familiar with trademark laws and regulations, and possess the capability to lawfully engage in trademark agency business.

Trademark industry organizations are self-regulatory organizations of the trademark agency industry.

Trademark industry organizations shall strictly conduct industry self-regulation, formulate industry self-regulatory norms and disciplinary rules in accordance with their articles of association, strengthen professional training as well as education on professional ethics and discipline, organize and guide trademark agencies and practitioners to conduct agency business in a standardized and lawful manner, and continuously elevate the industry service level.

Intellectual property administrative departments shall lawfully strengthen supervision and guidance over trademark industry organizations, and support them in improving industry self-regulation and standardization.

Trademark agencies and practitioners are encouraged to lawfully join trademark industry organizations.

Trademark agencies engaging in agency business for trademark matters administered by the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) shall complete filing with CNIPA in a timely manner in accordance with the law.

The term of validity of trademark agency filing is three years. Where an agency intends to continue its business upon expiry, it may go through renewal filing within six months prior to the expiration date. Each renewal filing shall be valid for three years, calculated from the day following the expiry of the original filing term.

The filing information of a trademark agency includes:(1) Business license or law firm practice license;(2) Name, domicile, contact information, unified social credit code of the trademark agency; names of the person-in-charge, shareholders of non-listed companies, and partners;(3) Names, ID numbers and contact information of trademark agency practitioners;(4) Other information required to be submitted by laws, regulations and provisions of CNIPA.

CNIPA shall not require trademark agencies to repeatedly provide information obtainable via government information sharing platforms.

Where any filed information of a trademark agency changes, the agency shall complete alteration filing with CNIPA within 30 days from the date of actual change or registration/approval by the competent authority, and submit corresponding supporting documents.

A trademark agency shall complete cancellation filing with CNIPA after properly handling pending trademark agency business, under any of the following circumstances:

Where the aforesaid circumstances apply, CNIPA shall mark the agency in the Trademark Online Service System and Trademark Agency System, and no longer accept its new trademark agency applications, except for handling pending business.

A trademark agency shall, prior to applying for market entity deregistration or voluntarily ceasing business, or within 30 days from receiving a decision on revocation, withdrawal or permanent suspension, properly dispose of pending trademark agency business in accordance with laws, regulations and contractual agreements, notify clients to change trademark agency representation, or enter into a business transfer agreement with other filed trademark agencies upon client consent.

Where the documents submitted for filing, alteration filing, renewal filing or cancellation filing comply with the provisions, CNIPA shall process the formalities in a timely manner, notify the trademark agency, and make public announcement in accordance with the law.

Trademark agencies shall not engage in trademark agency business by fraudulent, deceptive or other improper means, nor harm national interests, public interests or the legitimate rights and interests of others.

A trademark agency shall not, in the name of its legal representative, shareholders, partners, actual controllers, senior management personnel, employees or other related persons, indirectly apply for registration or accept assignment of trademarks beyond its agency service scope; nor shall it indirectly conduct such acts by establishing new market entities or through affiliated market entities.

Trademark agencies shall actively perform management duties, standardize the professional conduct of their practitioners, establish and improve management systems covering quality control, conflict of interest review, malicious application screening, complaint handling, confidentiality administration, personnel management, financial management and file archiving, supervise practitioners’ compliance with laws, regulations and industry norms, and rectify problems in a timely manner.

Trademark agencies shall strengthen education on professional ethics and discipline for their practitioners, organize professional learning, and provide conditions for professional training and continuing education.

Trademark agencies shall display their business license or law firm practice license conspicuously at their domicile or business premises.

Where a trademark agency conducts business online, it shall continuously and prominently disclose on the homepage or main business page of its website the information recorded in its business license or practice license (including agency name, business premises and business scope), as well as other filed trademark agency information.

When undertaking trademark agency business, a trademark agency shall sign a written trademark agency entrustment contract with the client, specifying the rights, obligations and other matters of both parties in accordance with the law. No such contract shall violate laws, regulations or relevant state provisions.

A trademark agency shall conduct conflict of interest review upon accepting entrustment, and shall not accept entrustment from both parties with conflicting interests in the same case.

A trademark agency shall handle trademark registration applications and other trademark matters in accordance with the client’s requirements and the law, and comply with relevant provisions on protection of trade secrets and personal information in the course of agency.

Where a trademark applied for registration by a client is likely to be ineligible for registration under the Trademark Law, the trademark agency shall clearly inform the client in writing or other equivalent forms.

A trademark agency shall not accept entrustment if it knows or ought to know that the trademark applied for registration falls under the circumstances specified in Articles 4, 15 and 32 of the Trademark Law.

Trademark agencies shall strictly perform agency duties, verify the declared matters and submitted application materials in accordance with Article 27 of the Trademark Law, timely inform clients of case progress, deliver legal documents and materials, and shall not delay without just cause.

Trademark agency practitioners shall undertake business only upon assignment by their employing agency, and shall not accept entrustment in their personal capacity.

A practitioner shall not engage in trademark agency business for two or more trademark agencies concurrently.

Documents submitted by a trademark agency to CNIPA shall bear the official seal of the agency and the signature of the relevant trademark agency practitioner.

Trademark agencies and practitioners shall be liable for the agency business handled under their seal and signature.

Trademark agencies shall promptly file and archive case files and relevant materials for undertaken business, and keep them properly.

Records kept by trademark agencies shall be true, accurate and complete.

Trademark agencies shall charge fees in compliance with relevant laws and regulations, adhere to the principles of voluntariness, fairness, reasonableness and good faith, and balance economic and social benefits.

Intellectual property administrative departments shall establish credit files for trademark agencies and trademark agency practitioners.

CNIPA shall collect and sort credit file information, and carry out hierarchical and classified evaluation of the trademark agency industry. Local intellectual property administrative departments, market regulation authorities and trademark industry organizations shall assist in information collection and sorting.

The following information shall be recorded in the credit files of trademark agencies and practitioners:(1) Information on administrative penalties imposed;(2) Information on supervision and inspection received;(3) Information on membership in trademark industry organizations and disciplinary sanctions imposed by such organizations;(4) Information on being listed in the business anomaly catalogue or the serious dishonesty list;(5) Other information reflecting the credit status of trademark agencies and practitioners.

Trademark agencies shall submit annual reports in accordance with relevant state provisions.

Trademark agencies that intentionally infringe intellectual property rights, submit malicious trademark registration applications, harm public interests, engage in serious illegal trademark agency acts with egregious nature, serious circumstances and great social harm, and receive severe administrative penalties shall be included in the serious dishonesty list in accordance with the Measures for the Administration of the List of Serious Illegal and Dishonest Entities for Market Regulation and other relevant provisions.

Intellectual property administrative departments may conduct supervision and inspection on the agency conduct of trademark agencies and practitioners in accordance with the law, including inspecting and copying relevant materials, questioning parties and relevant entities and individuals, requiring parties and relevant personnel to truthfully provide materials within a specified time limit, and adopting other lawful, necessary and reasonable measures. Trademark agencies and practitioners shall provide assistance and cooperation.

Intellectual property administrative departments shall guide trademark agencies to conduct business lawfully and improve service quality.

For trademark agencies or practitioners engaged in illegal or irregular acts, intellectual property administrative departments may conduct interviews, put forward opinions and urge timely rectification within their statutory duties.

Intellectual property administrative departments shall be responsible for releasing and publicizing trademark agency-related information, and improve the coordination mechanism with market regulation authorities in terms of information sharing, notification of investigation results and professional guidance.

Any of the following acts shall be deemed forgery, alteration, or use of forged/altered legal documents, seals or signatures in the handling of trademark matters as specified in Item 1 of Paragraph 1 of Article 68 of the Trademark Law:(1) Forging or altering official documents or seals of state organs;(2) Forging or altering legal documents or seals of institutions other than state organs;(3) Forging or altering signatures;(4) Using forged or altered official documents, legal documents, seals or signatures while knowing or ought to know the fact;(5) Other circumstances of forging, altering or using forged/altered legal documents, seals or signatures.

Any of the following acts shall be deemed soliciting trademark agency business by defaming other trademark agencies or other improper means:(1) Fabricating or disseminating false or misleading information to impair the business reputation of other trademark agencies;(2) Instigating or assisting others to fabricate or disseminate false or misleading information to impair the business reputation of other trademark agencies;(3) Other circumstances of soliciting business by defaming other trademark agencies.

Any of the following acts shall be deemed disrupting the order of the trademark agency market by other improper means as specified in Item 2 of Paragraph 1 of Article 68 of the Trademark Law:(1) Accepting entrustment while knowing or ought to know that the client applies for registration by deception or other improper means, or applies maliciously for trademarks harmful to socialist morality and good customs or having other adverse impacts by taking advantage of emergencies, public figures or public opinion hot topics;(2) Offering bribes or transferring interests to staff engaged in trademark registration and administration, illegally obtaining undisclosed trademark registration information, or requesting delivery of case-related materials to seek improper benefits;(3) Employing personnel formerly engaged in trademark registration and administration in violation of laws, regulations and professional restriction provisions, and delaying or refusing to correct such employment upon notification by intellectual property administrative departments;(4) Acting for different clients to apply for registration of identical trademarks on identical or similar goods/services, except where the prior trademark has been invalidated upon application;(5) Assisting the assignor in completing trademark assignment while knowing or ought to know that the assigned trademark is a maliciously registered trademark;(6) Counterfeiting official websites, mailboxes, phone numbers of state organs or posing as state organ staff to mislead the public, or providing false trademark-related materials or charging fees to seek improper benefits;(7) Accepting entrustment while knowing or ought to know that the client abuses trademark rights, or instigating trademark right holders to abuse trademark rights for improper gains;(8) Assisting clients in submitting trademark applications based on forged, altered or fabricated materials, or colluding with clients to prepare and submit false trademark application materials;(9) Reporting other trademark agencies to competent authorities with fabricated facts;(10) Providing services at below-cost prices to squeeze out competitors;(11) Other acts disrupting the trademark agency market by improper means.

Any of the following acts shall fall under the circumstances specified in Paragraphs 3 and 4 of Article 19 of the Trademark Law:(1) Previously acting for a client in trademark registration application, opposition, invalidation or review proceedings, and again accepting entrustment to file identical or similar trademark registration applications on identical or similar goods/services, where the client’s prior trademark application was rejected, refused registration or declared invalid by a valid decision or ruling of CNIPA due to violation of Articles 4, 15 or 32 of the Trademark Law;(2) Having previously handled other trademark business for a client and knowing the client’s trademark involves violation of Articles 4, 15 or 32 of the Trademark Law, yet still accepting new entrustment;(3) Violating the provisions of Paragraph 2 of Article 10 herein;(4) Other circumstances falling under Paragraphs 3 and 4 of Article 19 of the Trademark Law.

Any of the following acts shall be deemed soliciting business by fraud, false publicity, misleading representation or commercial bribery:(1) Colluding with others or fabricating facts to induce clients to entrust trademark matters;(2) Misleading clients by promising results or exaggerating the success rate of agency business;(3) Forging or altering honors or qualifications to deceive or mislead the public;(4) Acquiring trademark information by theft, bribery, fraud, coercion or other improper means, or disclosing, using or permitting others to use such information to seek business opportunities;(5) Explicitly or implicitly claiming to expedite trademark procedures or increase approval chances through irregular channels to mislead clients;(6) Offering money or other benefits to entities or individuals by way of bribery to seek business opportunities;(7) Other circumstances of soliciting trademark agency business by improper means.

Any of the following acts shall be deemed accepting entrustment from both conflicting parties in the same trademark case as specified in Item 3 of Article 88 of the Implementing Regulations of the Trademark Law:(1) Accepting entrustment from both parties in trademark opposition, revocation, invalidation, review or litigation proceedings;(2) Having previously acted for a client in trademark registration application, and later acting for another party to file opposition, revocation or invalidation application against the same trademark;(3) Other circumstances of accepting entrustment from both conflicting parties in the same case.

Where a trademark agency engages in online trademark agency business and commits any of the following acts, the provisions of the Anti-Monopoly Law of the People's Republic of China, Anti-Unfair Competition Law of the People's Republic of China, Price Law of the People's Republic of China, Advertising Law of the People's Republic of China and other relevant laws and regulations shall prevail if applicable; where no provisions apply, the market regulation authority may issue a warning and impose a fine of not more than RMB 50,000; for serious circumstances, a fine of not less than RMB 50,000 but not more than RMB 100,000 may be imposed:(1) Maliciously squeezing out competitors by taking advantage of customer resources, platform data and other operators’ reliance on its trademark agency services;(2) Conducting false or misleading commercial publicity by fabricating user reviews or business volume to deceive and mislead clients;(3) Disrupting the normal operation of the Trademark Online Service System, Trademark Agency System and other platforms via electronic intrusion or unauthorized plug-in access;(4) Displaying trademarks with significantly adverse impact online;(5) Other illegal trademark agency acts conducted via the internet.

After investigating and penalizing illegal acts of trademark agencies in accordance with Article 68 of the Trademark Law, market regulation authorities shall notify CNIPA of the investigation results in accordance with relevant provisions. Where CNIPA receives such notification or finds that a trademark agency commits any act specified in Paragraph 1 of Article 68 of the Trademark Law with serious circumstances, it may lawfully decide to suspend acceptance of its trademark agency business for not less than six months up to permanent suspension, and make public announcement.

Being subject to three or more administrative penalties within two years due to trademark agency illegal acts shall be deemed serious circumstances as prescribed in the preceding paragraph.

During the suspension period, or where an agency fails to properly handle pending business in accordance with Paragraph 3 of Article 8 herein, the person-in-charge, persons directly liable, and shareholders/partners with management responsibilities of the agency shall not serve as the new person-in-charge, shareholder or partner of any trademark agency.

Where a time-limited suspension decision made by CNIPA expires and the trademark agency has rectified its illegal acts, CNIPA shall resume acceptance of its trademark agency business and make public announcement.

Where a trademark agency engaging in trademark agency business fails to complete filing, alteration filing, renewal filing or cancellation filing as required by law, fails to properly handle pending trademark agency business, or violates Paragraph 4 of Article 15 herein, thereby harming clients’ interests or disrupting the trademark agency market order, CNIPA shall circulate a notice of criticism and record the matter in the agency’s credit file.

For agencies committing the aforesaid violations, the market regulation authority shall order rectification within a time limit; if rectification is not completed upon expiry, a warning shall be given, and a fine of not more than RMB 100,000 may be imposed for serious circumstances.

Intellectual property administrative departments shall improve internal supervision systems, and strengthen supervision and inspection over compliance with laws, regulations and disciplines by personnel engaged in trademark registration and administration.

Personnel engaged in trademark registration and administration shall enforce the law impartially, maintain integrity, be dedicated to duties and provide courteous services; they shall not engage in trademark agency business or participate in for-profit activities in violation of provisions. Post-employment restrictions for such personnel shall be implemented in accordance with or by reference to the Civil Servant Law of the People's Republic of China and other relevant laws and regulations.

Personnel engaged in trademark registration and administration who neglect their duties, abuse power, engage in irregularities for personal gain, illegally handle trademark registration and other trademark matters, or accept money or property from trademark agencies/practitioners to seek improper benefits shall be disposed of in accordance with the law; those constituting a crime shall be held criminally liable.

Intellectual property administrative departments shall conduct strict examination, supervision and administration over trademarks involved in illegal and disciplinary acts in accordance with the Trademark Law and relevant laws and regulations, and handle such matters in a timely manner.

Where laws and regulations contain separate provisions on the handling of illegal acts committed by trademark agencies in their business activities, such provisions shall prevail.

Law firms and lawyers engaging in trademark agency business shall comply not only with laws, regulations and these Provisions, but also with other relevant state provisions.

Institutions or individuals other than trademark agencies specified in Article 2 herein that engage in trademark agency business or related activities in violation of these Provisions shall be handled by reference to these Provisions.

These Provisions shall come into force on December 1, 2022.