With the increasing number of trademark registration in China, the number of cases handled by Trademark Review and Adjudication Board greatly grew. The examination in practice faces a contradiction of limited examination power between increasingly application numbers. We here check and organize the examination status in practice for obligee’s reference in accordance with content of public speaking by Zhang Yuemei, the Section Chief of Trademark Review and Adjudication Board.

■ The setting and establishment of the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board

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■ The type of case by Trademark Review and Adjudication Board (not including Administration litigation and administrative review)

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■ The number of case by Trademark Review and Adjudication Board in the latest 3 years (not including Administration litigation and administrative review)

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■ Tips to current important information

1. There is no backlog in the case that would be examined within the examination limit. The review case of refusal has already begun to examine cases accepted in January 2017.The invalidation announcement and 3-year review of revocation has begun to examine cases accepted in December 2016.

2. The request for a delay by the obligee, has been subject to a strict review, and in principle only the following circumstances may be agreed upon.
① The owner of the cited trademark is making a change and handling a transferring procedure
② The citation of the trademark is in the period of grace period, whether the right is valid to be determined
③ The parties have not used and declared the quotation marks for three years before the trademark application
④ The party concerned has raised objections to the quotation marks

3. The internal mechanism of the judge to meet the requirements of the examination and approval is as follows:
① The number of cases per month shall be allocated to the examiners, and the deadline shall be completed
② Monthly review progress at the end of each month
③ Monthly review of the number of reviews and rankings

Comment：

At present, the review is relatively good, the personnel transferred into the trademark office will further facilitate the digestion of the case, and the examination of the case will be completed within the examination limit. The censor’s review pressure is still enormous when considering administrative reconsideration and administrative litigation should be handled at the same time. The average time for each case usually is examined at about half an hour, especially as the number of cases increases further in the future, while the review force will not be increased in the foreseeable future. If the judges do not have further improvement measures, the quality of the case will be more uncertain. The specific development situation also needs to continue to keep track of attention.

 

Author: BOB Intellectual Property Service Ltd.
Partner/Manager of IP Registration Department Lawyer
Qian Min
Oct.25,2017