China’s first full revision of the Trademark Law: what changes for foreign brand owners

2026-09-10 Trademark / 商标

• On 26 June 2026 the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress adopted the first full revision of the Trademark Law since it took effect in 1983; the revised law expands the text from eight chapters and 73 articles to nine chapters and 87 articles and takes effect on 1 January 2027.
  2026年6月26日，十四届全国人大常委会第二十三次会议表决通过新修订的商标法——这是商标法自1983年施行四十多年来的首次全面修订；法律由原8章73条扩展为9章87条，自2027年1月1日起施行。

• The revision targets “misleading-use trademarks” (so-called “scheming trademarks”): using a registered mark in a way that deceives consumers as to quality, process, raw materials or origin now carries graduated penalties, and in serious cases the trademark can be revoked by the State Council’s trademark authority.
  修订剑指”误导性使用注册商标”（所谓”心机商标”）：以误导公众方式使用注册商标的，由负责商标执法的部门责令限期改正，并设梯度罚款；逾期不改正的，由国务院商标管理部门撤销其注册商标。

• The legislation also tightens the registration gate: applications made without an intent to use and clearly beyond normal business needs face rejection at examination, bad-faith applications that mislead are sanctioned, and the good-faith principle is written into the law to curb hoarding and squatting.
  修法同时收紧注册入口：不以使用为目的、明显超出正常经营需要的申请在审查阶段面临不予注册；申请人明知标志带欺骗性仍申请注册造成不良影响的承担相应法律责任；诚实信用原则入法以遏制囤积与抢注。

• Agency conduct is put under stricter supervision with reinforced filing, credit-based discipline and penalties for agents that help clients squat or hoard marks; the law also provides for protection of special signs and supports domestic brand owners in proving well-known status to defend their marks abroad.
  商标代理行为受到更严监管：强化代理机构与从业人员备案管理、行业信用约束，打击协助恶意抢注与囤积的灰色产业链；法律还就特殊标志保护作出衔接，并支持国内权利人证明驰名状态以维护其海外品牌权益。

• The CNIPA reports that between 2023 and April 2026 it rejected 1.273 million trademark applications liable to mislead consumers, and has declared 3,351 registered marks invalid on its own initiative for deceptive use.
  国家知识产权局披露，2023年至2026年4月已累计驳回127.3万件易误导消费者的商标申请，并对3351件以虚假描述欺骗误导公众的注册商标依职权宣告无效。

• For foreign brand owners, the essentials are: keep marks in genuine commercial use in China (and document it), avoid overbroad speculative filings that now carry rejection and bad-faith risk, treat defensive registrations as legitimate only when tied to real business planning, and expect faster and more aggressive remedies against squatters through invalidation, revocation and enforcement of the good-faith rules.
  对外国品牌权利人的要点：确保商标在中国真实商业使用并留证；避免投机性过量申请（如今面临驳回与恶意认定风险）；防御性注册须与实际经营规划挂钩方属正当；利用无效宣告、撤三与诚信规则，可更快更主动地应对抢注者。

China’s first full revision of the Trademark Law: what changes for foreign brand owners | 中国商标法四十余年首次全面修订：境外品牌权利人需要知道的变化

Overview

On 26 June 2026, the Standing Committee of the Fourteenth National People’s Congress voted to adopt the revised Trademark Law of the People’s Republic of China, the first comprehensive revision since the law entered into force in 1983. The revised law will take effect on 1 January 2027. In structure it grows from eight chapters and 73 articles to nine chapters and 87 articles; in substance it shifts the centre of gravity of Chinese trademark law from registration-centric administration toward a “registration plus genuine use” model, with express disciplines against hoarding, squatting and deceptive use.

For foreign brand owners — whether they sell into China, manufacture there, or simply hold Chinese registrations defensively — the revision changes assumptions in three areas: how marks must be used to stay alive, how far defensive filing can go, and how quickly remedies against bad-faith actors will operate.

The headline: disciplining “scheming trademarks”

A central target of the revision is what officials and media describe as “scheming trademarks” (心机商标) — marks whose use is designed to mislead consumers, for example by dressing the trademark up as a claim about product quality, ingredients or production process (a package reading “extra half portion” as if it were a functional promise, or a mark that mimics an origin or process descriptor).

Under the revised law, using a registered trademark in a way that misleads the public triggers enforcement by the department responsible for trademark enforcement: an order to rectify within a time limit; where the illegal business turnover is RMB 50,000 or more, a fine of up to five times that turnover; where turnover is absent or below RMB 50,000, a fine of up to RMB 250,000; and where rectification is not made within the time limit, revocation of the registered trademark by the trademark authority of the State Council. In addition, an applicant who knows that a sign is deceptive — liable to mislead the public about the quality, process, raw materials or origin of goods — and still files for registration, thereby causing adverse effects, bears corresponding legal liability.

This is not only prospective: the CNIPA reports it rejected 1.273 million applications liable to mislead consumers between 2023 and April 2026 and has proactively declared 3,351 registered marks invalid for deceptive use. The legislative change converts an administrative campaign into a statutory regime.

Stricter registration gate and the good-faith principle

The revised law adds a dedicated chapter systematising the conditions for trademark registration and writes the good-faith principle into the statutory text. Reported consequences include:

• Hoarding rejected at the gate. Applications made without an intent to use and clearly exceeding normal business needs may be refused at the examination stage, cutting off bulk registration-for-resale at source.
• The line for defensive registrations. Commentary during the legislative process stressed that reasonable defensive registrations by bona fide businesses are not “malicious hoarding” — the operative test is whether filings are tied to genuine business planning and use intent.
• Use obligations reinforced. The regime around revocation for non-use (three consecutive years of non-use without legitimate reason) remains a central tool, and the revision’s overall direction makes documented use the safest way to keep marks alive and to defeat squatters.
• Misleading applications sanctioned. Filing a deceptive sign while knowing it is deceptive now carries express liability, closing a route that bad-faith filers had used to pressure brand owners.

Stricter control of trademark agencies

The revision tightens supervision of the trademark agency industry: reinforced filing and management of agencies and their practitioners, credit-based discipline, and consequences for agencies that assist clients in squatting or hoarding marks. Agencies have been a transmission belt for speculative filing; the new regime raises their own exposure and should reduce the supply of ready-made bad-faith filings on sale to third parties.

Special signs and going-out support

Two further strands matter to brand owners with broad portfolios: the revision provides for protection of special signs (national-park signs, Olympic signs and similar) by aligning trademark rules with special-sign protection, curbing registration of public signs for private gain; and it adds support for domestic right holders to evidence their marks’ well-known status, helping Chinese brands — and by the same mechanism, foreign brands with Chinese well-known findings — defend against overseas pre-emption by using Chinese fame evidence in foreign proceedings.

What this means for foreign brand owners

• Use it or document why not. Marks that are registered in China but not commercially used are exposed to revocation-for-non-use, and the new regime raises the value of genuine-use evidence (invoices, marketing, customs records, platform listings) that defeats a non-use revocation petition.
• Right-size the filing portfolio. Global brand owners often file broad defensive specifications. Under the revised law, filings that clearly exceed normal business needs risk rejection; align specifications with genuine commercial plans, and treat pure “reserve” filings as a higher-risk category than before.
• The misleading-use tool cuts both ways. The new penalties apply to any registrant or user that misleads consumers — including a foreign owner whose Chinese-market packaging or mark use overstates quality or origin claims. Marketing teams should audit claims embedded in marks and packaging.
• Faster, stronger action against squatters. With good-faith in the statute and a documented record of CNIPA action against deceptive and hoarded marks, foreign brand owners have a stronger basis to petition for invalidation of squatted marks and to oppose bad-faith filings, particularly where the squatter filed without use intent.
• Plan for the 2027 effective date. The law applies from 1 January 2027. Use the interim to audit portfolios, collect use evidence, clean up vulnerable filings and align agency engagements with the new compliance duties.

Practical steps

• Conduct a China portfolio audit: identify registrations at risk of non-use revocation, marks whose use might be read as misleading, and filings that could be challenged as lacking use intent.
• Build a use-evidence file per core mark (invoices, customs records, advertising, sales-platform data, product packaging dated samples).
• Review agency agreements and require the agency to certify compliance with the new good-faith and anti-squatting duties.
• If you have pending disputes with squatters, reassess strategy in light of the strengthened non-use and bad-faith grounds available once the law takes effect.
• Audit marketing claims embedded in marks and packaging to stay clear of the misleading-use penalties.

Sources

• 中国人大网 — 为品牌强国建设注入法治新动能（商标法施行四十多年首次全面修订）: http://www.npc.gov.cn/c2/c30834/202608/t20260812_456596.html
• 湖南省常德市中级人民法院官网 — 筑牢商标法治根基 护航知识产权强国建设: http://cdzy.hunancourt.gov.cn/article/detail/2026/09/id/9483956.shtml
• 公主岭市人民政府（信用中国专栏转载）— 商标法首次全面修订完成 “心机商标”将受严格规制: https://credit.gongzhuling.gov.cn/61.news.detail.dhtml?news_id=47651
• 国家知识产权局商标网上检索系统（公共服务平台入口）: https://wcjs.sbj.cnipa.gov.cn/

Related reading

• see also: how foreign brands register and protect trademarks in China (trademark-registration-foreign-brands)
• see also: bad-faith trademark squatting and defensive strategies (bad-faith-trademark-squatting)

中国商标法四十余年首次全面修订：境外品牌权利人需要知道的变化

概述

2026年6月26日，十四届全国人大常委会第二十三次会议表决通过新修订的《中华人民共和国商标法》——这是该法自1983年施行四十多年以来的首次全面修订。修订后的法律自2027年1月1日起施行。结构上由8章73条扩展为9章87条；实质重心从”以注册为中心”转向”注册与真实使用并重”，并明文确立对囤积、抢注与误导性使用的纪律约束。

对境外品牌权利人而言——无论其向中国销售、在华设厂、还是仅防御性持有中国注册——修法在三个方面改变了前提：商标须如何使用才能存续、防御性申请可走多远、以及针对恶意行为的救济将多快见效。

头条议题：规制”心机商标”

本次修订的核心靶标之一是官员与媒体所称的”心机商标”——以误导消费者方式使用的商标，例如把商标包装成对产品分量、成分或工艺的承诺式表述，或模仿产地、工艺描述词的标识。

依修订后的法律，以误导公众方式使用注册商标的，由负责商标执法的部门责令限期改正；违法经营额五万元以上的，可处违法经营额五倍以下罚款；没有违法经营额或不足五万元的，可处二十五万元以下罚款；逾期不改正的，由国务院商标管理部门撤销其注册商标。此外，申请人明知标志带有欺骗性、容易使公众对商品的质量、工艺、原料等特点或产地产生误认，仍作为商标申请注册、造成不良影响的，承担相应法律责任。

这不仅是面向未来的：国家知识产权局披露，2023年至2026年4月已累计驳回127.3万件易误导消费者的申请，并对3351件以虚假描述欺骗误导公众的注册商标依职权宣告无效。修法把行政整治转化为法定制度。

更严的注册入口与诚信原则

修订后的法律增设专章集中规定商标注册条件，并把诚实信用原则写入法律文本。公开报道的制度后果包括：

• 囤积在入口被拒。 不以使用为目的、明显超出正常经营需要的申请，审查阶段即可不予注册，从源头截断批量抢注囤积倒卖。
• 防御性注册的边界。 立法审议过程强调，诚信经营企业合理的防御性注册不属于恶意囤积——判断标准在于申请是否与实际经营规划和真实使用意图挂钩。
• 使用义务强化。 围绕连续三年无正当理由不使用而撤销的制度仍是核心工具，修订整体方向使”有据可查的使用”成为维持商标存活、对抗抢注者最稳妥的方式。
• 误导性申请受罚。 明知标志带欺骗性仍申请注册的，承担明确责任，封堵了恶意申请人曾用以施压品牌方的路径。

商标代理从严监管

修订强化对商标代理行业的监督：强化代理机构与从业人员备案管理、以信用为基础的行业约束，以及对协助客户抢注、囤积的代理行为的责任追究。代理机构曾是投机申请的传导带；新制度抬高了其自身风险，应会减少市场上现成待售的恶意申请。

特殊标志与出海支持

两个与组合资产权利人相关的方向：修法就国家公园标志、奥林匹克标志等特殊标志与商标制度的保护规则作出衔接，防止将公共标志抢注牟利；同时新增对国内权利人证明商标驰名状态的支持，帮助中国品牌——同一机制下，也惠及持有中国驰名认定的外国品牌——在境外程序中以中国驰名证据应对海外抢注。

对外国品牌权利人的意义

• 使用，或说明为何不使用。 在华注册但未商业使用的商标面临”撤三”风险；新制度提升真实使用证据（发票、营销、海关记录、平台在售信息）的价值——这些证据可击退撤三请求。
• 校准申请组合。 全球品牌常做宽泛防御申请。新法下明显超出正常经营需要的申请有驳回风险；应使指定商品与实际商业计划对齐，并把纯”储备”型申请视为较以往风险更高的一类。
• 误导性使用工具双向适用。 新的罚则适用于任何误导消费者的注册人或使用人——包括其中国市场的包装或商标使用夸大质量、产地主张的外国权利人。市场团队应审计商标与包装中的主张性表述。
• 更快、更强的反抢注行动。 诚信原则入法、且国知局对欺骗性与囤积性商标的处理记录公开可查，外国品牌权利人在对抢注商标提无效、对恶意申请异议时有了更强依据，尤其是抢注方无使用意图的情形。
• 为2027年生效日做准备。 法律自2027年1月1日施行。宜利用过渡期审计组合、收集使用证据、清理脆弱申请，并让代理合作符合新的合规义务。

实务建议

• 开展中国组合审计：识别面临撤三风险的注册、可能被解读为误导性使用的商标，以及可能被质疑缺乏使用意图的申请。
• 为核心商标建立使用证据卷（发票、海关记录、广告、销售平台数据、带日期的包装样品）。
• 审阅代理协议，要求代理机构承诺遵守新的诚信与反抢注义务。
• 若有与抢注者的在途争议，依据新法生效后可用的更强”不使用”与”恶意”事由重估策略。
• 审计商标与包装中的营销主张，避开误导性使用罚则。

来源

• 中国人大网 — 为品牌强国建设注入法治新动能（商标法施行四十多年首次全面修订）: http://www.npc.gov.cn/c2/c30834/202608/t20260812_456596.html
• 湖南省常德市中级人民法院官网 — 筑牢商标法治根基 护航知识产权强国建设: http://cdzy.hunancourt.gov.cn/article/detail/2026/09/id/9483956.shtml
• 公主岭市人民政府（信用中国专栏转载）— 商标法首次全面修订完成 “心机商标”将受严格规制: https://credit.gongzhuling.gov.cn/61.news.detail.dhtml?news_id=47651
• 国家知识产权局商标网上检索系统（公共服务平台入口）: https://wcjs.sbj.cnipa.gov.cn/

相关阅读

• 见：外国品牌如何在中国注册与保护商标（trademark-registration-foreign-brands）
• 见：恶意抢注与防御策略（bad-faith-trademark-squatting）