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On January 13, 2023, the CNIPA released the Draft Amendments to the Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China (for public comments). Three years later, the State Council held, on November 14, 2025, a meeting to discuss and, in principle, approve the Draft Amendments to the Trademark Law, deciding to submit the Draft to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for review. The State Council meeting highlighted the need to boost trademark management and protection according to the law and to fully leverage trademarks in promoting economic and social development.
Although the content of the Draft Amendments is yet to be publicized, the upcoming amendments to the Trademark Law will, according to the previously released CNIPA Draft Amendments (for public comments), mainly focus on the following aspects: strengthening the trademark use obligation system; establishing the basic principle of prohibiting duplicate registration; further regulating malicious trademark registration and introducing civil liability for malicious squatting; establishing a system for compulsory transfer of maliciously squatted trademarks; introducing a system for counterclaims in malicious litigation; clarifying the scope of trademark exclusive rights, improving provisions on descriptive use, and expanding legitimate use scenarios such as good-faith use of one's own name, designation, address, and indicative use.
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