The China National Intellectual Property Administration has drafted "Regulations on Regulating the Registration of Trademark Applications (Draft for Comments)" and its explanations. People from all walks of life could raise their opinions of the drafts by e-mail, fax and letter before March 14, 2019.
 
1. The content and function of the articles
 
There are eight articles in the draft, including five aspects.
 
Article 1 and 2: Clarify the purpose of legislation of this regulation. Reaffirm the principle of good faith established by the Trademark Law and the orientation of applying for trademark registration on the premise of the willingness to use;
 
Article 3: Clarify the types of behavior of abnormal application for trademark registration.
 
Article 4: Clarify the legal consequences of abnormal registration of trademarks.
 
Article 5 and 6: Take measures from credit records, statistical standards, agency management, etc. to regulate the abnormal trademark registration behavior and the corresponding rights of the parties;
 
Article 7: Clarify the duties of intellectual property authorities at all levels to guide and regulate the registration and use of trademark applications, and mobilize the public to supervise the abnormal trademark registration act.
 
2. Drafting background and necessity
 
With the development of reform and socialist market economy, the simplicity and convenience of trademark registration has caused severe problems, and even affect market order and trademark management. “Malicious application” trademark behavior and “bulk registration” to transfer trademarks for profit have misled the intention of trademark registration. The trademark registration is used for the identification of “good or service” from others rather than trading.
 
However, even such registrations are of bad-faith but not easy to get invalidation due to the existing system. Although people can raise appeals to defend their rights of trademark, it still causes a large sum of money and time to deal with the cases and even leading to a failure. The other solution could be waiting three years and file a non-use cancellation. However, time has been consumed under this condition.
 
Aimed to solve the existing trademark problems and protect the rights of the owners, this regulation has come out and asked for the public opinions.
 
3. The main ideas of drafting
 
The law-based trademark protection system
 
To improve the business environment and maintain market order, this regulation has been based on the principle of combination of government-oriented and market-driven. A long-term mechanism system is desired to cut down the malicious applications and squatting trademark registration. Because the existing legal framework has some unclear issues, which caused disordered in the trademark problem-solving, the draft is to fix the problem. The draft adheres to the principle of trademark registration for practical use and takes measures from administrative management. Thus, this draft has made the clarification of the types of behaviors for an abnormal application. Besides, the legal basis has been defined. What’s more, a steady and social supervision system has been established to defend bad-faith trademark registration.
 
Improve the awareness of trademark protection of public
 
It is essential for the trademark owner fights for their rights with the weapon of law. The three-year system of non-use of trademark revocation and invalidity of registered trademarks could help trademark owners to win back their brands.
 
Conclusion
 
The trademark regulating system is vital for the management of trademark and the protection of the trademark owners. The regulation can establish a law-basis environment for the public to defend their rights of trademarks. The awareness of trademark registration is essential for the owners of good faith. It could save the trademark owner’s time for trademark argument and help with the steady development of the business. Thus, the regulation could be a critical development of the trademark regulating system.