Recent updates from the official government procurement website reveal that the CNIPA (China National Intellectual Property Administration) is launching a new round of actions against trademark hoarding, entrusting five regional public institutions with the investigation of malicious trademark applications.

Through a single-source procurement method, five public institutions, including the Guangdong Intellectual Property Protection Center, have entered into agreements with CNIPA to provide services in investigating and uncovering bad-faith trademark applications. According to the Entrustment Agreement, the investigation and clue collection work began in January 2025.

This new initiative is part of CNIPA’s ongoing efforts in recent years to tackle bad-faith trademark applications, particularly targeting trademark hoarding and the sale of trademarks for profit.

Bad-faith trademark applications typically involve filing for numerous classes or large quantities of trademarks without genuine intent to use them in commerce. Instead, the applicants often seek to hoard these trademarks and sell them for illicit profits. As a result, these malicious filings are commonly found in both new trademark registration applications and trademark assignment records. Therefore, the focus of the new project will be on monitoring these two areas. Trademarks registered through such tactics often form what is known as a "trademark farm," and led to the development of trademark trading platforms, such as 好标网 (www.haotm.cn), 中细软商标超市 (www.gbicom.cn), 鱼爪网 (r.yuzhua.com), 品标网 (www.mb.cc), 麦汇网 (www.maihuiipr.com), and 创名 (www.cmsbw.cn).

The procurement announcement highlights the involvement of five public intellectual property institutions. These include agencies such as the Trademark Examination Cooperation Center, which assists CNIPA with trademark registration and examination in line with CNIPA's instructions. During this project, these institutions will gather clues and details regarding illicit or malicious trademark filings across various Nice Classes, including goods like household appliances, clothing, toys, medical devices, cosmetics, and services such as advertising, training, and transportation. Each institution will establish an expert panel to filter suspicious applications, conduct investigations, collect evidence, and ultimately prepare formal reports with recommendations for CNIPA. Speculation exists that under the new round of measures, the phenomenon of trademark farming will be targeted, and related trademark trading platforms will become key subjects of monitoring.

In summary, this new initiative underscores CNIPA’s firm commitment to addressing bad-faith trademark registrations. With actions lasting up to one year and covering a broad range of Nice Classes, there is hope that this effort will improve the current situation, fostering a fairer and healthier trademark registration and management system.