Intellectual Property, Information Technology & Cybersecurity

Contact: Vivien Chan & Co. (Hong Kong)

Promulated 30 August 2013
Effective 1 May 2014

TIMEFRAME FOR TRADEMARK EXAMINATION

There is currently no provision in the Trademark Law that regulates the timeframe for trademark examination.

However, to enable the applicant to have greater clarity of timeframe, the new law imposes time limits for the different stages of examination during the prosecution procedure:

• preliminary examination (初步审查) must be issued within 9 months from the date of application;
• a decision on a review against refusal procedure (驳回复审) before Trademark Review and Adjudication Board (TRAB) is to be issued within 9 months of the filing date of the review. In special cases, such time limit is extendable by 3 months upon approval;
• oppositions (异议) must be decided within 12 months from the expiration of the publication date, and such period may be extended to 18 months upon approval;
• reviews against an opposition decision filed by the opposed party (不予注册复审) must be decided within 12 months from the date of request.

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