Your Trademark Application in China Has Been Opposed: How to Defend It

Your trademark application in China passed examination and was published, and then someone filed an opposition. For foreign applicants this is often the first contested proceeding they face in China, and the deadlines are short. An opposition is not a court case: CNIPA decides it on the written record, usually within a year. This guide explains how an opposition against your application works under the current Trademark Law (2019 amendment), what to file in response and what happens after the decision. It sets out general rules; a specific case needs professional advice.

How an opposition starts

• The window: anyone may oppose within three months of preliminary publication on absolute grounds, including bad-faith applications not intended for use; on relative grounds, such as an earlier mark, agent squatting or prior rights, only the prior right holder or an interested party may oppose (Article 33).
• Who is behind it: often the owner of a similar earlier mark, sometimes a former distributor or a competitor. Check the opponent's own filings; it may itself be a squatter. See Trademark Squatting in China.
• Your application is frozen: the mark is not registered while the opposition is pending. If it is later approved, your exclusive right counts from the date the three-month publication period ended, not from the decision date (Article 36). Use by others in between is generally not treated as infringement after the fact, though a bad-faith user must compensate for the loss it caused.

Responding: 30 days, then evidence

• Reply within 30 days: CNIPA sends the opposition papers to the applicant, who may file a reply within 30 days of receipt. Foreign applicants without a business or habitual residence in China must act through a CNIPA-recorded agency.
• Supplementary evidence within three months: if you need more time to collect evidence, say so in the reply; the further evidence must then be filed within three months of filing the reply (Implementing Regulations, Article 27). Evidence not filed in that window is normally treated as waived, unless it came into existence later or there is good reason for the delay. Documents created abroad need Chinese translations, and may need notarisation and an apostille or legalisation, especially if the opponent challenges their authenticity, so start collecting at once.
• Not replying is a choice, not a default: CNIPA still decides on the record, but it decides without your arguments. Reply unless you have decided to abandon the mark.

Building the defence

1. Attack similarity: show the marks differ in appearance, sound and meaning, including in Chinese, or that the goods sit in different subclasses with no cross-subclass note. See Nice Classes Explained.
2. Challenge the opponent's mark: if the cited mark has not been used for three consecutive years, file a non-use cancellation; if it was itself filed in bad faith, file an invalidation. Tell CNIPA these actions are pending.
3. Answer bad-faith allegations with facts: your use of the mark abroad and in China, the history of the brand and its design, and the reasons for your filings.
4. Consider coexistence: a coexistence agreement or consent letter can end the dispute, though CNIPA weighs it case by case where the marks are highly similar.

After the decision

• Timing: CNIPA should decide within 12 months of the end of the publication period, extendable by 6 months in special cases (Article 35).
• If you win: the mark is registered. The opponent cannot appeal the decision directly but may file an invalidation against the registration.
• If you lose: you may request review by CNIPA within 15 days of receiving the decision, and then go to the Beijing Intellectual Property Court if the review fails. Partial refusals leave the unopposed goods to proceed.

Article numbers in this guide follow the current law. The revised Trademark Law takes effect on 1 January 2027 and renumbers its articles (see China's Revised Trademark Law (2027): Unused Marks Can Be Cancelled Ex Officio); check the new numbering for anything filed after that date.

Frequently asked questions

The opponent is our former distributor. What changes? It cannot rely on your mark against you, and its own filings of your brand may be challenged under Article 15. See Your Chinese Distributor Registered Your Trademark.

Can we keep using the mark during the opposition? Using it does not infringe your own pending application, but if the opponent holds a registered similar mark, use may expose you to an infringement claim. Check before launching.

Should we refile while the opposition runs? A fresh application with a modified mark or narrower goods can be a useful backup, but it gets a later filing date.

J&C Intellectual Property Agency, founded in 2008, is a CNIPA-recorded trademark agency and a member of the China Trademark Association. We handle trademark filings, oppositions and invalidations in China for foreign brands; see our trademark registration service.