If CNIPA refuses your application

A refusal is an examination decision, not a rejection of you

When CNIPA examines your mark, it checks the application for formal problems and then for registrability: whether the mark is distinctive enough, and whether it conflicts with earlier marks already on file. If the examiner finds a problem, the result is a refusal. The notice states the legal grounds and identifies what it is refusing.

The notice identifies the legal grounds and the goods or services affected. That—not a generic timeline estimate—is the starting point for deciding whether to seek review, divide an approved portion, amend a future filing strategy, or stop.

Partial refusal and total refusal mean different things

The notice will be one of two kinds, and the difference changes your options.

Partial refusal

CNIPA approves some goods or services and refuses others. Article 22 of the Implementing Regulations allows the initially approved portion to be divided into a new application that keeps the original filing date. A divisional request must be made within 15 days after receipt of the partial-refusal notice.

Total refusal

CNIPA refuses the whole application. Nothing proceeds unless you ask CNIPA to review the refusal and that review succeeds.

Read the notice carefully to see which items were refused and which were approved. Ginbing posts the original notice and an English translation to your order so you can see exactly what CNIPA decided.

The review deadline is short and fixed

An applicant who contests the refusal can request review within CNIPA. The review is a separate procedure and requires arguments and evidence directed to the grounds in the notice.

The deadline to request that review is short. Under Article 34 of the Trademark Law, the general rule is 15 days from when you receive the refusal. Miss it and the refusal usually stands, so the date you receive the notice is the date that matters.

Ginbing flags the deadline when it posts a refusal to your order so you are not relying on yourself to spot it in a Chinese-language document.

The official source for the 15-day review period is Article 34 of the 2019 Trademark Law.

Deciding whether to respond

CNIPA decides the review on the refusal grounds, cited marks, arguments, and evidence. Under current Article 34, a party dissatisfied with the review decision may bring an action in the competent people’s court within 30 days after receiving that decision.

Review, division, and court proceedings are separate from the original filing. Obtain case-specific advice before the applicable deadline; a useful response depends on the mark, cited rights, refused scope, evidence, and commercial value of continuing.