Trademark Wiki / 商标使用规范

Does Using a Trademark on Gifts Count as Trademark Use?

Q&APublished 2026-09-17 · Updated 2026-09-17

Generally yes. Gifts that enter circulation together with goods and serve to identify the source for unspecified consumers constitute commercial use; however, evidence of the gifts' circulation must be retained.

Generally yes. Using a registered trademark on gifts that enter circulation through sales and promotional activities, and that serve to identify the source of goods to the unspecified public, satisfies Article 48 of the Trademark Law's definition of "using a trademark on goods or in commercial activities" and can constitute trademark use.

Key Points in Recognizing Gift Use

  • Entry into circulation: the gifts must actually be distributed to consumers, e.g., bundled with main products, handed out at exhibitions, or awarded in prize draws; merely storing them in a warehouse or distributing them internally to employees is hard to recognize as public commercial use;
  • The gifts fall within the designated goods: the gifts themselves should fall within the goods designated in the registration certificate — a trademark registered for Class 25 clothing used on gift mugs cannot maintain the Class 25 registration;
  • Serving the identification function: the trademark should be prominently used on the gift in a source-identifying manner, not as pure decoration.

Key Evidence-Retention Points

Gifts have no invoices or selling prices, so proof depends on building a chain from other materials:

  • Promotional campaign plans, posters, and notarized online campaign pages (showing the trademark and the gifts);
  • Procurement contracts and invoices for the gifts (proving the gifts were genuinely produced and distributed);
  • Physical gift items bearing the trademark and production batch, with photos;
  • Logistics distribution records and consumer collection records.

Cautions

Token distribution of an extremely small number of gifts may be found to be "token use maintained only to preserve the registration" and rejected. Gift use is best submitted together with evidence of genuine product sales; relying on gift evidence alone to defend a non-use cancellation carries high risk.

If you encounter a similar situation, we recommend first consulting a registered agency at MyTMBee to assess whether archive management is needed before deciding on the next step.