Key Trademark Usage Compliance Insights Under the New Trademark Law Regime
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On August 20, 2026, an event titled "Trademark Usage Compliance Under the New Trademark Law System" was held in Shanghai, jointly organized by ACIP Intellectual Property, ACIP Law Firm, and WELEGAL Alliance. As the new trademark law system approaches, where exactly lies the boundary of trademark usage compliance for enterprises? How can companies avoid pitfalls, and how can they maintain business growth while staying compliant?
Topic 1: Key Provisions and Forward-Looking Thoughts on the New Trademark Law
Speaker: Lu Qin, Director, ACIP (Hangzhou) Law Firm
In his sharing, Lu Qin systematically reviewed the core changes of the new trademark law from a legal practice perspective.
The most significant structural change: The new Trademark Law adds a dedicated chapter on "Conditions for Trademark Registration," consolidating all registration condition provisions that were previously scattered across the General Provisions, Trademark Registration Applications, and Invalid Declaration of Registered Trademarks chapters.
Dynamic marks are now registrable: The new Trademark Law explicitly includes dynamic marks as registrable trademark elements. Movie opening animations, smartphone boot animations, app launch screens, smart lock screen animations, and the like can all apply for trademark protection. Lu Qin specifically noted that enterprises related to screen display should pay attention to this type of trademark layout.
From "Recognition" to "Confirmation" of Well-Known Trademarks: The new law changes "recognition of well-known trademarks" to "confirmation of well-known trademarks." "Recognition" sounds like an honor bestowed by an authoritative body, while "confirmation" returns to the essence of well-known trademarks — they are merely a confirmation of factual status, not an honorary title. Meanwhile, the distinction between registered and unregistered well-known trademarks for cross-class protection is abolished — unregistered well-known trademarks can also enjoy cross-class protection, which is more conducive to combating free-riding on others' brand reputation.
Opposition period shortened from three months to two months: The trademark preliminary examination publication period is shortened, meaning the overall trademark registration timeline is accelerated. But for enterprises, the monitoring window is also shorter — the time to take action after discovering squatting is more pressing.
Strengthened management of malicious registration: The new law explicitly lists statutory circumstances of malicious trademark applications, including squatting, bulk hoarding, and free-riding on others' brands. Enforcement authorities may issue warnings and impose fines of up to 100,000 yuan, achieving a full-chain constraint from "application — examination — punishment."
"Tricky trademarks": A new Article 56 targets the use of registered trademarks in ways that mislead the public, establishing a three-tier regulatory system of "order to correct — graduated fines — revocation of trademark."
Lu Qin also addressed a concern shared by many enterprises: What to do if your trademark has been squatting abroad? The new law provides that during overseas trademark registration, if you can prove the trademark is well-known to relevant departments in China, you may request the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) to issue a confirmation document.
Topic 2: The Revised Trademark Law and Enterprise Trademark Management
Speaker: Zhang Lihong, Senior Vice President of Legal and Intellectual Property, a Shanghai-based company
The essence of a trademark is use, not registration. Zhang Lihong pointed out sharply: "A trademark comes in two types — unregistered trademarks and registered trademarks. So a trademark is not only a trademark after registration; as long as it is used, it is a trademark." The core direction of the new Trademark Law revision is to return trademark value to genuine use, rather than to registration itself.
She shared several real cases:
Case 1: The "pitfall" of forward-looking layout. A company, due to its long product development cycle, registered a certain trademark very early but never put it into use. When its subsidiary was ready to adopt it, just after completing the transfer procedures, someone filed a non-use cancellation (撤三). More troublesome was that the party filing the cancellation was a company that wanted to use the same name — it had split the trademark into two parts and registered them separately, combining them in use to walk the line.
Case 2: Chain reactions triggered by transfer. When a group registered trademark needed to be transferred to its subsidiary for use, it turned out that multiple similar trademarks also needed to be transferred together, but some of them were being used by other business units and could not all be transferred. Therefore, for intellectual property professionals, there are many issues to plan and anticipate in advance regarding trademark use, similarity assessment, and transfer procedures.
In her sharing, she noted that with the promulgation of the new Trademark Law, violations will face corresponding fines. Compared to being penalized by market regulation authorities, the impact on corporate goodwill is far greater than the fines themselves. Additionally, defensive registration is not negated — the key is whether it clearly exceeds normal production and operation needs.
Topic 3: Building an Enterprise Trademark Usage Compliance Management System
Speaker: Hong Shenzhi, Head of Legal, President's Office, Roele Living (罗莱生活)
The value of legal counsel is not to only say "No," but to help the business find a compliant "Yes." At Roele, there is absolutely no compromise on the macro compliance front. However, dogmatic, one-size-fits-all compliance operations also face numerous challenges when they fail to land in practice.
Speaker Hong Shenzhi reviewed the iteration of trademark usage compliance systems, combined with Roele Home Textiles' actual trademark management, introduced high-frequency scenarios of enterprise trademark management, emphasized that trademark compliance is the lifeline for consumer goods enterprises, and shared Roele's trademark layout, compliance pain points and practical dilemmas in different scenarios.
He reviewed the 18 key revision points of the Trademark Law that local market regulation authorities have emphasized, identified enterprises' core compliance focus as aligning with market regulation bureau regulations, distinguished "sword" laws (for anti-counterfeiting and rights enforcement) from "shield" laws (for self-compliance), and warned that enforcement requirements should not be underestimated.
He introduced the theme of trademark usage compliance, distilled 7 core points of trademark usage compliance based on official CNIPA interpretations, and shared Roele's practical experience in converting compliance points into concise illustrated guidelines attached to advertising review procedures, regularly updating and uploading them to the enterprise knowledge base, regularly reviewing and revitalizing their own trademark portfolio, and synchronizing trademark yearbooks with business departments.
At the same time, he emphasized that legal counsel should exercise measured control — iterating the compliance system through small-step validation, empowering information, and checking counterexamples — thereby creating a stable and trustworthy operational space for the business. Roele's successful compliance practices in recent years in the trademark and other areas confirm the value of this approach, while reminding legal professionals to acquire knowledge of industry technical regulations. Achieving compliance in trademark or market regulation matters is not about a lofty, idealistic perfect state — it is about dynamic compliance and continuous iteration. Only in this way can legal compliance work be effectively implemented, integrated with business processes, create value for the enterprise, and earn the support of business departments.
Conclusion
Currently, with less than half a year remaining before the formal implementation of the new Trademark Law (January 1, 2027), the comprehensive revision of the new Trademark Law marks a deep transformation in China's trademark field from "scale expansion" to "quality improvement," and further reflects the legislature's firm response to the fundamental logic of "returning trademarks to their essence of use." For enterprises, this revision is both a challenge and an opportunity. For legal professionals, the new Trademark Law era demands not only professional competence in maintaining compliance baselines, but also strategic thinking to deeply engage with business and help enterprises translate commercial concepts into legally viable solutions. Facing the upcoming implementation of the new Trademark Law, only by planning ahead and proactively iterating can one seize the initiative in times of change.
