Trademark squatting is one of the most common crises in brand operations. This guide provides a complete roadmap from discovery to remedy to prevention.
1. Discovery Stage: Get the Facts First
After discovering suspected squatting, the first step is not to act hastily, but to verify three pieces of information:
- The status of the other party's trademark: pending application, preliminary approval announcement, registered, or already invalidated—different statuses call for different plays;
- Key dates: the announcement date (determines the opposition period) and the registration announcement date (determines the five-year limit for invalidation);
- The other party's background: the number of trademarks in its name, whether it files in batches, whether other well-known brands are involved, and whether it has any actual business.
The above checks can be done on CNIPA's official website and the online trademark service system; where necessary, engage an agency for an in-depth investigation.
2. Path Selection: Match the Status
Scenario A: The Other Party's Trademark Is in the Preliminary Approval Announcement Period
The optimal solution is to file an opposition within three months (Article 33). At this point the other party has no trademark right yet, so interception carries the lowest cost and the best effect. Common grounds: Article 32 (prior use with a certain influence, prior rights), Article 15 (squatting via agency or business relationships), Article 4 (bad-faith stockpiling).
Scenario B: The Other Party's Trademark Has Been Registered for Less Than Five Years
File an invalidation on relative grounds (Article 45). If you are the direct victim, lead with Article 32 or Article 15, while assessing whether to add the absolute grounds of Article 44.
Scenario C: The Other Party's Trademark Has Been Registered for More Than Five Years
The relative-grounds channel is essentially closed (unless you are the owner of a well-known trademark and the other party registered in bad faith); focus on the absolute grounds of Articles 4 and 44, proving that the other party had no intent to use or registered by improper means.
Scenario D: The Other Party Has Not Applied but Is Merely Using Your Mark
This is an infringement or unfair competition issue rather than squatting: first preserve the use evidence, send a warning letter or file a civil lawsuit, and file your registration application immediately at the same time.
3. The Evidence Project: The Decisive Factor in Squatting Cases
The proof objectives in a squatting case come down to three sentences: my mark came first, the other party knew, and the other party acted improperly.
"My Mark Came First"
- Timeline evidence: sort the evidence predating the other party's filing date chronologically—the earliest sales contract, the first invoice, the first ad placement, early media coverage;
- Influence evidence: sales scale, geographic coverage, industry rankings, and award records, proving "a certain influence" rather than mere use;
- Ownership evidence: your prior applications, prior registrations, and work registrations.
"The Other Party Knew"
- Direct evidence: cooperation agreements, distribution contracts, contract-manufacturing orders, negotiation emails, records of exhibiting at the same shows;
- Presumptive evidence: your mark's high fame, both parties being in the same region and industry, the other party having been your customer or employee.
"The Other Party Acted Improperly"
- The list of trademarks in its name shows batch filings involving many others' marks;
- Records of peddling trademarks and demanding high assignment fees;
- No trace of use after registration and no business capacity.
4. Combined-Pressure Strategies
A single procedure is often insufficient; standard combinations in practice:
- Opposition/invalidation + your own new application: take down the other party while securing your own position, preventing repeat squatting;
- Invalidation + non-use cancellation: if the other party's mark has gone unused for three full years, run a non-use cancellation in parallel as double insurance;
- Administrative procedures + negotiation: once the procedure is launched, the other party is under pressure—negotiating an assignment or coexistence at this point often costs less;
- Full-class sweep: the other party may also have staked out classes you have not registered—monitor and handle them together.
5. Time and Budget Management
- Opposition: a three-month window + about twelve to eighteen months of examination;
- Invalidation: more than a year of examination, two to three years including litigation;
- Budget: official fees are the small part (opposition RMB 500 per class for paper filing, invalidation RMB 750 per class for paper filing, with a 10% discount for online filing); agency and evidence collection are the big parts—for core brands, budget for the full case.
Business cannot stop in the meantime: use the mark cautiously on the squatted classes and assess infringement risks; file backup trademarks first to ensure business continuity.
6. Prevention System: The Best Remedy Is Not Needing One
- Register first: apply immediately after the brand name is finalized, layering core classes + related classes + defensive classes—file before going public, file before recruiting partners;
- Contractual defenses: include trademark ownership and anti-squatting clauses in contracts with agents, contract manufacturers, and franchisees;
- Evidence retention: systematically retain timestamped use evidence in daily operations—invoices, contracts, advertisements, packaging;
- Announcement monitoring: set up announcement monitoring for core brands—intercepting squatting within the three-month opposition period is the most cost-effective move;
- Copyright registration: register graphic LOGOs as works in parallel, keeping an extra card for cross-class enforcement.
The essence of responding to squatting is a race against time: whoever lays out first, discovers first, and initiates the procedure first holds the initiative.
7. Where to Get Help
For the specific handling of the above matters, you may book trademark monitoring on MyTMBee, with end-to-end assistance from a registered agent.