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Volume XIII, Number 266

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China’s National Intellectual Property Administration to Cease Accepting Trademark Applications from Agencies that Failed to Reregister

On June 1, 2023, China’s National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) announced in the Notice on filing work of trademark agencies (商标代理机构备案有关工作的通知) that is would no longer accept trademark applications from trademark agencies that failed to register with CNIPA. However, these trademark agencies can complete existing applications. Note that almost three quarters of all Chinese trademark agencies have failed to reregister by the end of the first quarter of 2023 per the Report on National Intellectual Property Agency Industry Development Status (2022).

By the end of 2022, the number of trademark agencies nationwide reached 71,466. In 2022, there were 7,569 newly registered trademark agencies and 64 canceled trademark agencies.  However, after a reregistration process in 2023 Q1, there are only 18,096 registered trademark agencies nationwide including 16,921 that passed the review and 1,175 new agencies.  All registered trademark agencies had to sign a letter of commitment to solemnly promise  not to commit bribery, illegal employment, acting as an agent for malicious trademark registration applications, hoarding trademarks, and other irregularities.

This will probably cause the number of trademark grants to further drop. Trademark grants were already down almost 53% in the first quarter of 2023 versus a year ago.

The full text of the Notice is reproduced above and available here (Chinese only).

© 2023 Schwegman, Lundberg & Woessner, P.A. All Rights Reserved.National Law Review, Volume XIII, Number 153
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About this Author

Aaron Wininger IP Attorney China Portfolio Development
Director of China Intellectual Property Law Practice Schwegman Lundberg & Woessner

Aaron Wininger is a Principal and Schwegman’s Director of China Intellectual Property. Aaron counsels both U.S. and Chinese companies on portfolio development and preparation of their patent applications and office action responses. He has worked with clients in the areas of software, networks (wired and wireless), lasers, medical devices, semiconductors and physics.

Aaron prosecutes both Chinese and U.S. trademarks. He has also drafted and prosecuted hundreds of U.S. and international patent applications in a broad spectrum of areas, including computer hardware and software, the...

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