May You Change the Font of a Trademark After Registration?

Question

Accepted Answer

Minor adjustments are allowed, but changes to the distinctive character are not. Font adjustments that do not affect the distinctive character are generally still regarded as use of the same trademark; excessive changes constitute an unauthorized alteration of the registered trademark.

You may make minor adjustments that do not change the distinctive character, but you may not change the trademark's distinctive character. The test is: whether the altered mark and the original registered trademark remain the same trademark with "substantially no difference."

Legal Basis

Article 49 of the Trademark Law provides that where a registrant, in the course of using a registered trademark, alters the registered trademark without authorization, the local market regulation authority shall order rectification within a time limit; if rectification is not made by the deadline, the CNIPA shall cancel the registered trademark.

Meanwhile, Article 56 of the Trademark Law provides that the exclusive right to use a registered trademark is limited to the trademark as approved for registration and the goods as designated — the exclusive right covers only the representation on the registration certificate, and an altered mark falls outside its scope.

What Font Changes Are Permissible

Proportional substitution among common typefaces, such as replacing Song typeface with Hei typeface, with the text content, pronunciation, and meaning unchanged;
 Switching horizontal to vertical typesetting, minor font size adjustments, and spacing adjustments;
 Moderate adjustments to stroke thickness of a handwritingstyle font.

What Font Changes Are Dangerous

Changing an ordinary printed typeface into a highly artistic, graphicstyle variant that makes the text hard to read;
 Altering character structures, adding or deleting strokes, or switching between traditional and simplified characters in ways that create reading differences;
 A font change that renders the mark similar to another party's earlier trademark.

Practical Recommendations

For commonly used artistic or logostyle fonts, it is advisable to file a separate application for the actually used style, forming combined protection of "base trademark + use variants." This both avoids Article 49 risk and makes the eviden