A trademark name that passes examination easily generally satisfies three conditions: first, strong originality — ideally a coined or arbitrary word; second, it does not directly describe product features and does not touch the prohibited-signs clauses; third, it differs clearly from prior registered trademarks. Avoiding generic names, descriptive words, and internet buzzwords at the naming stage significantly increases the pass rate.
Naming Approaches with High Pass Rates
- Coined words: self-created words that do not exist in reality, such as Haier and Kodak — the strongest distinctiveness, almost never rejected for lack of distinctiveness.
- Arbitrary words: borrowing existing words unrelated to the goods, such as Apple for mobile phones and Camel for apparel — naturally distinctive.
- Suggestive words: indirectly hinting at product features without directly describing them, such as Rejoice for shampoo — acceptable distinctiveness, but mind the boundary.
Minefields to Avoid
- Generic names: the name of the goods themselves, such as registering "smart lock" on locks.
- Directly descriptive words: direct descriptions of quality, materials, function, or use, such as "pure cotton" for clothing and "fast charging" for chargers.
- Prohibited-signs clauses: state names, national flags, deceptive words, and words with unhealthy influence — touching Article 10 means absolute rejection.
- Buzzwords and celebrity names: internet buzzwords, celebrities' names, and well-known IP names are rejection disaster zones and may also trigger opposition and invalidation.
- Prior similarity: however good a name is, it cannot pass examination if it is similar to another's prior trademark — a similarity search after naming is mandatory.
Necessary Actions After Naming
- Conduct a prior-trademark similarity search on the CNIPA website or professional tools, covering the three dimensions of wording, pronunciation, and meaning.
- Also check business entity names and domain names to ensure the brand is usable as a whole.
- Prepare 2–3 candidate names and file the best according to search results, avoiding a restart from scratch if a single bet is rejected.
Naming and searching are the most cost-effective investments in trademark registration: one systematic approval-rate assessment can save months of refusal-review proceedings.
If you are unsure about the above issues, you may first run a trademark registrability assessment on MyTMBee and act after obtaining analysis from a CNIPA-recorded trademark agent.