The exclusive right to a registered trademark is the exclusive right that a trademark registrant enjoys in its registered trademark by law, including the powers to use it, to prevent others from using it, and to dispose of it by assignment or licensing. Apart from the registrant, no entity may use an identical or similar sign on identical or similar goods without permission. Understanding this right boils down to three sentences: limited in scope, limited in term, and limited in territory.
One Sentence to Remember the Boundary: Article 56
Article 56 of the Trademark Law: the exclusive right of a registered trademark is limited to the approved trademark and the designated goods.
This draws two lines that may not be crossed:
- Boundary of the sign: only the sign approved on the Trademark Registration Certificate is protected. Changing the typeface, adding a device, altering colors, or adding a suffix in actual use places the parts beyond the approved sign outside protection and may even constitute "unauthorized alteration of the registered trademark" (Article 49(1));
- Boundary of the goods: only the designated goods or services are protected. Use beyond the designated items, even under the same name and sign, enjoys no exclusive right; to obtain protection in more classes, separate applications are required.
Content of the Right
- Exclusive use (use by oneself): the exclusive use of the trademark on the designated goods or services;
- Right of prevention (control over others): the right to prevent others from using identical or similar trademarks on identical or similar goods (Article 57). The boundary of the right of prevention is broader than that of the exclusive-use right—the exclusive-use right is limited to the designated goods, while the right of prevention extends to similar goods and similar trademarks;
- Right of disposal: for assignment of a registered trademark, the assignor and assignee shall conclude an assignment agreement and jointly apply to CNIPA; the assignee enjoys the exclusive right from the date of announcement (Article 42). For licensing, a trademark licensing contract shall be concluded; the licensor shall supervise the quality of the goods on which the licensee uses its registered trademark; and where another's registered trademark is used under license, the licensee must indicate its own name and the origin of the goods on the goods bearing the registered trademark (Article 43).
Term, Renewal, and Territoriality
Ten-Year Term, Renewable
- Under Article 39, the term of a registered trademark is ten years, counted from the date of approved registration;
- Under Article 40, where the registered trademark needs to be used after expiry, renewal procedures shall be completed within twelve months before expiry; failing that, a six-month grace period is available; if renewal is still not completed after the grace period, the registration shall be cancelled.
"Ten years" is not a ceiling on the right but the length of a single term; renewed on schedule, the right can continue indefinitely. The most common cause of rights loss in practice is not cancellation but forgetting to renew.
Territoriality: One Country, One Right
The exclusive right to a trademark is strictly territorial. Registration in mainland China has effect only within mainland China; Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan maintain their own trademark systems and require separate applications. Likewise, a Chinese registered trademark is not automatically protected in the United States, the EU, or Japan; cross-border e-commerce sellers still need to lay out their marks separately in target markets after registering domestically.
This should be distinguished from temporality: the exclusive right does not lapse automatically for non-use; it can only be terminated through cancellation or invalidation—unlike copyright, which automatically enters the public domain upon expiry of its term.
Distinction from Neighboring Rights
- From copyright: copyright arises automatically upon creation of the work and protects expression; the exclusive right to a trademark arises only upon approved registration and protects source identification. The same graphic may carry both rights simultaneously, but ownership, term, and remedies are independent;
- From patent rights: a design patent protects the novel design of a product's appearance, has a fixed term, and is not renewable; a trademark can be renewed indefinitely but requires distinctive features;
- From trade name rights: a trade name is protected within the jurisdiction of the registration authority and its industry, and has no nationwide exclusive effect.
Practical Points
After approval, do three things: first, keep the Trademark Registration Certificate and check the list of designated goods to confirm that actual business falls within the scope of protection; second, establish a renewal reminder mechanism to avoid missing the ten-year node and the grace period; third, use the mark in a standardized way and do not alter its form without authorization. When discovering others using identical or similar signs, first check whether your own right boundary covers the other party's sign and goods, then decide whether to pursue platform complaints, opposition, invalidation, or litigation.
The practical judgment behind these concepts must be tailored to the individual case; before proceeding, you may book a registered agent via MyTMBee for targeted analysis.