Updating the data in the trademark register is necessary to ensure the continuity and effectiveness of the legal protection of the trademark. Changes such as a new legal form of the trademark owner, a change of company name or head office address should be reflected in the trademark registers to avoid legal problems in the future.
When a trademark owner fails to take into account a key change in the register of the China Trademark Office (CNIPA) and a situation arises where the owner has to defend the trademark against, for example, an cancelation attempt on the charge of non-use, a problem arises. The response documents to the office will be signed with the company’s new, not yet filed marks. The office may consider that the response was filed by a company other than the owner of the mark.
It is important to remember that the differences between the legal forms of companies, e.g. sole proprietorship, limited liability company or, limited partnership, are only known in the country of registration of these companies. The Chinese authority, when analysing the documents at the formal analysis stage, checks literally whether the names of the entities together with the designation of their legal form match. Even if the distinctive part of the company name is the same in the case of two different legal forms, the authority, upon seeing the difference in their notation, may conclude, rightly so, that it is dealing with two different entities. In other words, that the entity responding to the allegation is not the same one for which the trademark was registered.
No. If the trademark is transferred from one company to another, i.e. between two separate entities, the data of the new owner cannot be changed by updating. This is the purpose of the trademark transfer procedure.
The following changes should be filed as an update with the trademark register in China: a new name, a new address of the trademark owner or a legal form resulting from the transformation of the entity.
It is a good idea to keep your data up to date, especially important information such as changes in company name or new legal form following a transformation.
You cannot do this with the data update procedure because the two companies are formally separate legal entities. This is what the transfer of rights procedure is for.
No. After the update, China Trademark Office (CNIPA) will issue a certificate of change. You can obtain a certificate of protection with the new data, but this requires an additional application. It is a short procedure that takes about two months.
Yes. The amendment may prove crucial when defending a mark against cancellation or invalidation.
It is recommended to notify changes as soon as possible to avoid legal complications.
Yes, but only if you change your name, you still own the trademark.
Up-to-date information is essential for effective protection of the trade mark, especially if you need to react quickly within a reasonable time limit set by the Office, for example if someone requests cancellation of your trademark. If the old company details, i.e. the name of the company or its legal form, are recorded in the register, the documents submitted to the Office must be for a company with the same details. And if the name or legal form of the company has changed in the meantime and this information appears on the documents filed, the Office may consider them invalid.
In particular, the following changes should be reported: the name of the company or its legal form, and it is advisable to report a change of address.
An appropriate application must be filed, whereby an update application can only be filed with the China Trademark Office by a local trademark attorney, such as those who cooperate with Trademark Partners. Let us know, we know how to do it.
This process can take several weeks to few months.
Failure to update can lead to problems in defending the trademark against invalidation or cancellation, in enforcing the rights in the trademark or in preventing the transfer of the rights to the mark to another person.
No, updating the data does not affect the validity of the acquired rights.
No, changing the scope of protection requires a separate procedure.
Yes. The data update only applies if the entity owning the mark remains the same and only the name, legal form or address changes.