Trademark renewal is the only way to keep a registered trademark alive: the validity period is ten years, renewal is filed within twelve months before expiry, the six-month grace period serves as a backstop, and each renewal extends the term by another ten years with no limit on the number of renewals. This guide lays out, along a timeline, the deadlines, fees, process and the pitfalls most often stepped on.
1. Understand the Legal Framework First
Article 39 of the Trademark Law provides that a registered trademark is valid for ten years, counted from the date of approval of registration. Article 40 sets the renewal window: file within twelve months before expiry; failing that, a six-month grace period is granted; each renewal is valid for ten years, counted from the day following the expiry of the previous term; and failure to renew upon expiry leads to cancellation of the registered trademark.
Remember three key dates: the approval-of-registration date (from which the validity period runs), the expiry date of the validity period (the anchor of the renewal window), and the end of the grace period (the final deadline). All three can be verified in CNIPA's online search system.
2. Timeline Management: What to Do When
24 months before expiry: put the trademark on the watch list. Check the registration certificate, confirm the expiry date, and see whether multiple marks under the same name fall due on the same day.
18 months before expiry: run a pre-renewal health check on three things — whether the registrant's name and address match the business license; whether the trademark is involved in pending non-use cancellation, invalidation or pledge proceedings; and whether the approved goods still cover the actual business.
12 months before expiry: the renewal window opens. If the name or address has changed, file the change and renewal applications on the same day and CNIPA will coordinate them. Filing now requires only the regular renewal fee.
3 months before expiry: the last safety line. If not yet done, start immediately, leaving room for corrections.
6 months after expiry: the grace period. Renewal is still possible but requires an additional late fee, and timeliness is judged by the date CNIPA receives the application — do not mail it in the final days.
End of the grace period: the trademark is cancelled. The only remaining path is a fresh application under the one-year isolation period of Article 50, and a fresh application undergoes full examination with no guarantee of approval.
3. Fee Details and Payment Methods
Official fees are charged per class:
- Renewal registration fee: RMB 500 per class (paper), RMB 450 per class (online);
- Grace-period late fee: RMB 250 per class (paper), RMB 225 per class (online).
A trademark registered in multiple classes requires payment for each class; you may also renew only some classes, letting the rest lapse naturally at expiry. Agency service fees are extra, typically several hundred yuan per class on the market — confirm before signing whether correction follow-up is included.
Online filing beats paper filing on cost, speed and controllability across the board; the online trademark service system is recommended.
4. The Filing Process in Detail
Step one: prepare the materials. The renewal application form (filling in the registration number by mark and class), the applicant's entity qualification proof, and a power of attorney if an agency is engaged.
Step two: file the application. Online submissions enter the system instantly; paper applications may be delivered at the registration hall or by mail.
Step three: formal examination. CNIPA checks name consistency, registration number and class, and fee payment. Renewal involves no substantive examination and will not be refused because new similar trademarks have emerged.
Step four: correction (if any). Name mismatches or deficient materials trigger a correction notice, which should be satisfied in one pass within the deadline.
Step five: approval and issuance. Once examination is passed, CNIPA issues a renewal certificate and publishes it. The renewal certificate is used together with the original registration certificate; no new certificate is issued.
Step six: archiving. File the renewal certificate in the trademark archive and update the ledger's expiry date to the next ten-year node.
5. The Seven Most Common Pitfalls
Pitfall one: assuming CNIPA will remind you. CNIPA has no statutory duty to remind; notices are mailed to the registered address and are not mandatory, so an outdated address means even reminders never arrive.
Pitfall two: renewing directly after a renaming or relocation without recording a change. Name mismatches trigger corrections, and slipping into the grace period adds a late fee. The correct posture is filing the change and the renewal on the same day.
Pitfall three: counting ten years from the application date. The validity period runs from the approval-of-registration date, not the application date — a gap of months to a year. Always verify in the system.
Pitfall four: renewing only the main class and forgetting related classes. For multi-class registrations, check the renewal list item by item; classes not renewed cannot be recovered.
Pitfall five: ignoring pending non-use cancellation proceedings. Renewal and non-use cancellation do not affect each other, but if the trademark is cancelled for three consecutive years of non-use, renewal cannot save it. Keep evidence of use for marks not used for long periods.
Pitfall six: mailing on the last day of the grace period. Receipt by CNIPA is what counts, postal delays leave no room for remedy, and grace-period filings should be submitted online or mailed well ahead.
Pitfall seven: treating the renewal certificate as job done. Without updating the ledger and recording the new expiry date, the same drama replays ten years later.
6. Batch Management Advice for Enterprises
For companies holding multiple trademarks, the core of renewal management is a ledger plus alerts:
- Maintain a full trademark ledger with fields covering at least registration number, class, approval-of-registration date, expiry date, name and address, and pending proceedings;
- Set three-tier alerts at 18, 12 and 6 months before expiry;
- Link business registration changes (renaming, relocation) with trademark changes and renewals;
- Run an annual trademark health check, pruning classes no longer operated to control renewal costs;
- Engage professional file management services for expiry monitoring, driving the probability of human oversight close to zero.
7. Conclusion
Renewal is the least technical yet most consequential link in trademark management: one filing costs a few hundred yuan and a few dozen minutes, but missing it can cost an entire brand. Upgrading renewal from memory-based to system-based management is the ultimate solution.
Note: The fee and timeline figures in this article are updated to 2026. For actual filings, the latest official statements of CNIPA prevail.
8. Filing Entry
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.