Where a trademark is not renewed at expiry and the grace period also lapses without action, CNIPA cancels the registered trademark in accordance with the law, and the right is extinguished completely. Through a typical scenario, this article analyzes the boundaries of the rules and the remedies available.
The Scenario
A trading company held a word mark registered for many years, designated for its main line of goods. The company was small, and trademark matters were handled part-time by administrative staff, with no trademark ledger in place. Before the validity period expired, the company relocated and experienced staff turnover, and no one paid attention to the renewal; during the six-month grace period after expiry, the company likewise remained unaware. After the grace period lapsed, CNIPA cancelled the trademark in accordance with the law.
Months later, while renewing its brand qualifications on a platform, the company discovered the trademark had lapsed and immediately filed a fresh application for registration. During examination, the application ran into conflict with a prior trademark applied for by someone else and could not be smoothly approved. Only then did the company realize that ten years of brand equity had been lost to a single management oversight.
Analysis of the Rules
First, cancellation is an automatic legal consequence. Article 40 of the Trademark Law provides that a registered trademark is cancelled if the renewal formalities are not completed upon expiry. Cancellation requires no participation by the right holder and does not depend on its knowledge.
Second, the grace period is the last and only relief. The regular renewal window is the twelve months before expiry, and the grace period is the six months after — eighteen months of filing time in total. Miss those eighteen months and the system offers no third chance.
Third, re-registration after cancellation is not guaranteed. Although Article 50 of the Trademark Law provides that, within one year of a registered trademark's cancellation, CNIPA will not approve applications for identical or similar marks — objectively preserving room for the former right holder to reclaim the mark — a fresh application still undergoes full substantive examination and can be refused in the face of new conflicting prior rights. Moreover, the isolation period lasts only one year; after that, anyone may apply.
Lessons to Draw
- Trademark renewal cannot rely entirely on individual memory; staff turnover inevitably creates gaps;
- The trademark ledger should record each mark's expiry date with multi-level alerts;
- When a company relocates, besides changing the trademark address, it should take the opportunity to review the term status of all its marks;
- For companies with many trademarks or insufficient management staff, engaging a professional agency for trademark file management and expiry monitoring is the cheapest insurance.
A trademark is often lost not to a competitor, but to a calendar nobody reads.
For the specific filings involved in the above matters, you may book a trademark renewal at MyTMBee, where a recorded trademark agent will assist throughout.