CNIPA's answers on agencies and official notices

For all trademark matters, you can choose to handle them yourself or through an agency.

Different matters can be entrusted to different agencies.

You can entrust agency B with the matter directly. It is advisable to file a change of agency, because otherwise later notices still go to the original agency.

You can file a change of agency with the Trademark Office and leave "the agency after the change" blank on the form, which is treated as removing the agency. Once the change is approved, notices go directly to the applicant.

Where a party has appointed a trademark agency, delivery of a document to the agency is treated as delivery to the party.

The Trademark Office has no designated agencies. Beware of being deceived.

When appointing a trademark agency, an applicant should check its registration status through platforms such as the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System, choose carefully, and avoid being deceived.

Examiners do not contact applicants on their own initiative.

The Trademark Office charges only the registration application fee. It charges no separate fee for printing the registration certificate after registration is approved.

No official fee is charged for correcting a trademark registration application.

No.

The appointment must be made in the company's name.

No.

It can be handwritten.

For a new application it can be left blank.

Examination progress has nothing to do with how the application is filed.

Under Article 18 of the Regulations for the Implementation of the Trademark Law, the filing date of a registration application is the date the Trademark Office receives the application documents.

Article 9: except as provided in Article 18, the date on which a party submits documents or materials to the Trademark Office or the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board is the date of submission if delivered in person. If posted, it is the postmark date; if the postmark is unclear or missing, it is the date actually received, unless the party can prove the actual postmark date.

When a notice we sent is returned to the Trademark Office because nobody signed for it, we publish a public notice of service.

The returned document can still be collected. If it is not collected within 30 days of the public notice of service, it is treated as served and the response or review period starts to run.

An examination opinion generally requires an explanation or comments within 15 days of receiving the notice.

Since May 2016 the Trademark Gazette has been published electronically, and we no longer send out any paper copies of it.

The system's data is not updated in real time and lags somewhat. It is for reference only and has no legal effect.