Date of Promulgation: Mar 25, 2014
Implementation Date: May 01, 2014
Abolishment Date:
Policymaker:the Supreme People’s Court

（Provisional translation）

(Adopted at the No. 1606 conference of the Judicial Committee of the Supreme People’s Court on February 10, 2014; Interpretation No. 4 [2014] of the Supreme People’s Court)

Announcement of the Supreme People’s Court of the People’s Republic of China

Interpretation of the Supreme People’s Court’s on Case Jurisdiction and Law Application Issues Attributable to Amendment of Trademark Law is adopted on February 10, 2014 by Judicial Committee of the Supreme People’s Court at its No. 1606 conference, and shall come into force on May 1, 2014.

Supreme People’s Court
Mar 25, 2014

For the purpose of correctly trying trademark dispute cases, according to the Decision on the Amendment of the Trademark Law of the People’s Republic of China adopted at the No. 4 conference of the Standing Committee of the No. 12 National People’s Congress and stipulations of the amended Trademark Law of the People’s Republic of China, the Civil Procedure Law of the People’s Republic of China and the Administrative Procedure Law of the People’s Republic of China, the following interpretations are given as below:

Article 1 The following trademark cases are heard by the people’s courts:

1.Administrative cases in which plaintiffs or respondents dissatisfy the review decision or verdict made by the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board of the State Administration for the Industry and Commerce (hereinafter referred to as Trademark Review and Adjudication Board);

2.Others trademark related cases in which plaintiffs or respondents dissatisfy the decision or verdict made by the Administration for the Industry and Commerce;

3.Dispute cases concerning the ownership of trademark right;

4.Trademark exclusive right infringement cases;

5.Confirmation of non-infringement of the trademark exclusive right;

6.Contract dispute cases concerning trademark right transfer;

7.Contract dispute cases concerning trademark licensing;

8.Contract dispute cases concerning trademark agency;

9.Application for cease of the trademark right infringing act before prosecution;

10.Cases concerning the liability for damages cased by the application for cease of the trademark right infringing act;

11.Cases concerning property attachment before prosecution due to trademark right dispute;

12.Cases concerning evidence preservation before prosecution due to trademark right dispute;

13.Other trademark related cases.

Article 2 Administrative cases in which plaintiffs or respondents dissatisfy the review decision or verdict made by the Trademark Office of the State Administration for the Industry and Commerce (hereinafter referred to as Trademark Office) shall be in the jurisdiction of the intermediate people’s courts of Beijing.

Article 3 The first trials of trademark civil cases shall be in the jurisdiction of the basic people’s courts appointed by the people’s courts above the intermediate levels and the Supreme’s People’s Court.

Civil and administrative cases concerning well-known trademark protections shall be in the jurisdiction of other intermediate people’s courts appointed by the Supreme’s People’s Court and the intermediate people’s courts of cities where provincial and autonomous regional people’s governments, cities with independent budgetary status and municipals directly under control of the central government;

Article 4 If litigants pose the ownership issue of the trademark right or file the civil lawsuit against the trademark infringement during the examination of the Administration for the Industry and Commerce against the trademark infringing acts, the people’s courts shall handle.

Article 5 For the administrative prosecution filed by litigants due to the rejection made by the Trademark Office after the decision for the promulgation of the amended Trademark Law of the trademark registration and renewal application submitted before the decision, the people’s courts shall review in accordance with the amended Trademark Law.

For the administrative prosecution filed by litigants due to the decision made by the Trademark Office after the decision for the promulgation of the amended Trademark Law to reject the trademark opposition application submitted before the decision for the promulgation of the amended Trademark Law, the people’s courts shall review in accordance with the amended Trademark Law.

Article 6 For the administrative prosecution filed by litigants against the review decision or verdict made by the Trademark Office after the decision for the promulgation of the amended Trademark Law on the trademark review application submitted before the decision for the promulgation, the people’s courts shall review in accordance with the amended Trademark Law.

The people’s courts do not handle the administrative prosecution filed by litigants against the approval decision made by the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board after the promulgation of the amended Trademark Law on the trademark registration applied before decision for the promulgation; while the administrative prosecution filed by litigants against the rejection on the trademark registration shall be heard by the people’s courts in accordance with the Trademark Law before the amendment when it comes to the issues of appeal right and subject qualification.

Article 7 For the administrative prosecution filed by litigants against review decision or verdict made by the Trademark Office after the decision for the promulgation of the amended Trademark Law on the trademark review application accepted by the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board before the decision for the promulgation, the people’s courts shall review in accordance with the amended Trademark Law when it comes to the issues of relevant procedures but with the Trademark Law before the amendment concerning the subject.

Article 8 For the administrative prosecution filed by litigants against the decision or verdict made after the decision for the promulgation of the amended Trademark Law by the Trademark Office and the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board on relevant trademark cases accepted before the decision for the promulgation, the people’s courts shall apply the review period after the decision-making date to judge whether the decision or verdict conformed to the stipulation on the review period.

Article 9 Accept for this interpretation specifies elsewhere, the trademark civil cases accepted by the people’s courts after the decision for the promulgation of the amended Trademark Law but which involved the behavior happened before the decision for the promulgation shall apply to the Trademark Law before amendment; while when it comes to the behavior happened before the decision-making and lasted after the decision-making shall apply to the amended Trademark Law.