Qualified Use Evidence To Maintain The Mark In The Non-Use Cancellation Action

In recent year, China has rapidly become No. 1 country in the world in terms of trademark application filings. Consequently, with such a large volume of marks being filed, the risk of new marks facing prior marks has significantly increased. Therefore, the non-use cancellation action has become one of the effective ways to remove prior registered marks. For maintaining the marks, it is important to understand how to provide proper and qualified evidence in the non-use cancellation procedure. In this article, we will primarily focus on the "qualification" of the use evidence itself.

Examination tendency of use evidence non-use cancellation

For many years, particularly during the time when the number of trademark filings has not erupted in China, the CNIPA has been quite lenient – some would say too lenient in maintaining the marks. We see the cases that the use evidence is not qualified, or only one or two goods are used, but the entire mark is maintained by CNIPA.