Rejection for violating Article 10 of the Trademark Law is fundamentally different from rejection for lack of distinctiveness: Article 10 is an absolute prohibition. A rejected sign not only cannot be registered — using it even as an unregistered trademark is unlawful, and there is no exception for acquiring registrability through use. The typical scenarios in practice are analyzed below.
Scenario 1: Identical or Similar to State Symbols
Typical situation: the sign contains elements of the Five-Starred Red Flag, a device of Tiananmen, or a combination of an abbreviation of the state name with emblematic state patterns.
Rejection logic: Items 1 and 2, Paragraph 1 of Article 10 prohibit signs identical or similar to the state name, national flag, or national emblem from being used as trademarks. Examination takes a strict stance, and even partial similarity of an element may lead to rejection.
Avoidance: steer completely clear of state symbols in design — do not play edge ball.
Scenario 2: Deceptiveness
Typical situations:
- Using a trademark containing the word "organic" on ordinary food, which may mislead the public into believing the product is certified organic.
- Using a well-known place of origin on goods not from that place — for example, a Moutai-related expression on liquor not produced in Maotai Town — causing misrecognition of origin.
- Using the words "genuine leather" on artificial-leather products.
Rejection logic: Item 7, Paragraph 1 of Article 10 prohibits deceptive signs that may easily mislead the public as to the quality or other characteristics, or the place of origin, of the goods. The test is whether the relevant public, upon seeing the sign, would form a false perception of the source or quality of the goods.
Avoidance: keep the naming vocabulary at an honest distance from the actual attributes of the goods, and be especially cautious with quality-promise words and place names.
Scenario 3: Detrimental to Socialist Morality or Having Other Unhealthy Influence
Typical situation: using vulgar or lowbrow words; squatting on names tied to major public events or martyrs and heroic figures as trademarks; signs containing religiously sensitive elements that may hurt believers' feelings.
Rejection logic: the "unhealthy influence" clause of Item 8, Paragraph 1 of Article 10 is a catch-all provision, considering whether the sign itself and its use may have a negative impact on public interests and public order. Squatting on the names of major public events or political public figures is treated with strict severity in practice.
Avoidance: hotspot-chasing naming is the disaster zone — never touch trending words from major events or celebrities' names.
Scenario 4: Containing Place Names of Administrative Divisions at or Above the County Level
Typical situation: applying for a place name at or above the county level alone as a trademark, such as registering the name of a prefecture-level city for restaurant services in Class 43.
Rejection logic: Paragraph 2 of Article 10 prohibits place names of administrative divisions at or above the county level, and foreign place names known to the public, from being used as trademarks, so as to prevent public resources from being monopolized by individual undertakings. Exceptions: a place name has another meaning (e.g., "Chang'an" or "Phoenix," which are distinctive as ordinary words); it forms part of a collective mark or certification mark (such as geographical-indication products); or place-name trademarks already registered remain valid.
Avoidance: avoid using place names at or above the county level alone; where regional character must be expressed, use a combined format and assess the room for an "other meaning" defense.
Lessons Learned
- There is no conventional path to overturn an Article 10 rejection on review — touch it and you are out; advance self-screening is the only solution.
- A sign found to violate Article 10 may not even be used; packaging and advertising already in the market must be pulled, and the loss far exceeds that of an ordinary rejection.
- Screening a name item by item against Article 10 at the naming and design stage is the lowest-cost compliance action.
If you need the above matters handled, you may submit a trademark registrability assessment request on MyTMBee, to be followed up by a CNIPA-recorded trademark agent.