At a recent news briefing, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (hereinafter SAIC) issued SAIC opinions on deepening the reform of trademark registration facilitation and enhancing the efficiency of trademark registration (hereinafter referred to as “the opinions”). According to the opinions, the period for trademark examination will be reduced from 8 months to 6 months, by the end of 2018.
In order to meet the rapid growth of trademark applications, it is demanded that by the end of 2017, the time for issuing official filing notice is reduced from 3 months to 2 months, which will be further compressed to 1 month by the end of 2018; the examination period is reduced to 8 months from 9 months, which will be further compressed to 6 months by the end of 2018. Moreover, by the end of 2018, the examination period for trademark transfer will be shortened from 6 months to 4 months, as well as the period for modification and renewal from 3 months to 2 months, and the period for retrieval from 3 months to 2 months.
On the basis of the implemented electronic publication for trademarks, the whole period from filing and issuance of registration certificate will be shortened for 1 or 2 months.
