Speaking of recordings of change for trademarks, we are all familiar with it.  But why are there recordings of change for trademarks?  Let's take a look at the relevant laws and regulations.

    Article 41 of the "China Trademark Law": Where a registered trademark needs to change the name, address or other registration items of the registrant, an application for change shall be filed.

    Article 17 of the "Regulations for the Implementation of the Trademark Law": Where an applicant changes his name, address, agent, document recipient, or deletes designated goods, he shall go through the modification procedures with the China Trademark Office.

    Article 30 of the "Regulations for the Implementation of the Trademark Law": To change the name, address or other registration items of the trademark registrant, an application for change shall be submitted to the Trademark Office. Where the name of the trademark registrant is changed, the change certification document issued by the relevant registration authority shall also be submitted. If the Trademark Office approves, it shall issue a corresponding certificate to the trademark registrant and make an announcement; if it is not approved, it shall notify the applicant in writing and explain the reasons. If the name or address of the trademark registrant is changed, the trademark registrant shall change all of its registered trademarks at the same time; if the change is not made at the same time, the Trademark Office shall notify him to make corrections within a time limit; if no correction is made within the time limit, the application for change shall be deemed to have been abandoned. The applicant should be notified in writing.

    Seeing from the above legal provisions, when the applicant/registrant of a trademark changes its name, address or other registration matters, according to the law, it shall record a corresponding change before the National Intellectual Property Administration (the former Trademark Office).

    So, what are the specific requirements for specific trademark changes?

    First, when the applicant/registrant has multiple trademarks, all valid trademarks under the applicant/registrant's name shall be submitted to the National Intellectual Property Administration for modification. If an application is filed for only some of the trademark, the recording of change for trademarks will encounter a notice of amendment.  At this time, the National Intellectual Property Administration will require the applicant/registrant to record the change for the other trademarks under his name. If the change is not recoded, the corresponding recording of change application submitted by the applicant/registrant will not be accepted.  As a result, the relevant information of the trademark cannot be changed.

    After the applicant/registrant's information is changed, what will happen if the change is not recorded?

    In practice, it often happens that the applicant/registrant's information has been changed, but the applicant/registrant did not change the current valid trademark in the National Intellectual Property Administration, but directly submitted the registration application with the new updated information.  Although in this way, it will save time and money in the short term, there will be great risks in the later stage.  If the applicant/registrant subsequently applies for a trademark with new information that is similar to a trademark that has not yet been changed under his own name over similar goods or services, it is likely that the trademark submitted with the new information will be rejected.  In order to overcome the refusal notice, the applicant/registrant still needs to record the changes.  In this way, not only changes must be recorded, but also review of refusal must be filed which will end up with spending more time and money.

    Therefore, when relevant information changes, please record changes in time to protect your rights.

Originally Published by Kangxin Partners, November 2020

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