In China’s trademark laws, a trademark application is considered made in bad faith if the applicant knows that there is a priority rights holder or has an ulterior motive for registering the mark. Bad faith registration is different from trademark squatting. Trademark squatting covers fewer activities than bad faith applications; in particular, trademark hoarding does not fall under trademark squatting. There are a variety of bad faith intentions behind these kinds of practices. For example, in a trademark squatting case, subjective bad faith may be based on tapping into brand equity or for the purpose of extorting the brand. The China Trademarks Act has provisions addressing bad faith applications.
A bad faith application will be rejected by the trademark office if the examiner finds there is no intent to actually use the mark. Following initial approval and listing in the Trademark Gazette, a party may file an opposition with the trademark office. If successful, this opposition results in the rejection of the bad faith application.
The trademark office is required to revoke any trademarks following a reexamination trial upon the identification of a bad faith application, after which it will issue public notices of the trademark trial rulings that invalidate trademarks based on findings of bad faith application. The trademark office will also issue public notice of trademarks found invalidated due to any bad faith reasons.
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