Defending a Chinese Trademark Against Non-Use Cancellation: Build the Use Record

By Pan Jianxing · Published 24 September 2026

A foreign brand may sell genuine products in China for years yet struggle to answer a non-use cancellation application. Headquarters holds the registration, a local distributor keeps invoices, and the online store retains order data. The defence depends on connecting those records to the registered mark, the relevant goods or services and the specified period. A large document collection is useful only when that connection can be demonstrated.

This guide covers mainland China and the law checked on 24 September 2026. The 2026 Trademark Law revision takes effect on 1 January 2027. The article numbers below refer to the law currently in force; proceedings crossing that date require a further review of applicable rules.

Fix the response deadline and evidence period first

Under Article 49 of the current Trademark Law, a registration is vulnerable to cancellation for three consecutive years of non-use without a proper reason. Under Article 66 of the Implementing Regulations, the registrant must provide use evidence or explain a proper reason within two months of receiving the notice. Preserve the notice, envelope and electronic service records, and have the service date and deadline verified immediately.

The evidence period looks backwards from the cancellation application, not from receipt of the notice. Read the specified dates carefully. A current sales campaign cannot establish a transaction three years earlier. Nor should the registrant assume that submitting an outline reserves three further months: CNIPA expressly distinguishes the initial cancellation procedure from review proceedings with a supplementary-evidence timetable. Prepare the substantive response within the applicable deadline.

Test every exhibit against five questions

CNIPA's guidance on use evidence identifies the essential connections: the mark, designated goods or services, user, time and territory. Turn those requirements into an evidence schedule:

• Which mark? Identify the sign visible on the product, packaging, advertisement or transaction record, and compare it with the registered representation.
• Which goods or services? Translate internal product codes into an identifiable product and match it to the registration wording.
• Whose use? Identify the company operating the store, issuing the invoice or supplying the product, and explain its connection to the registrant.
• When? Point to contemporaneous transaction or publication dates falling within the specified period.
• Where? Establish the relevant mainland Chinese commercial activity. A worldwide sales total does not isolate it.

No single invoice necessarily answers every question. The practical objective is a set of mutually supporting records whose gaps are visible and explained.

Build transaction bundles that can be followed

For a product sale, start with an order and connect it to the invoice, payment, dispatch record and product identification. Where an invoice describes only a model number, contemporaneous catalogues, product specifications or order attachments may connect that number to the branded goods. Keep the original files and document where each item came from.

For an online store, retain the account operator's identity, dated product pages, order exports, payment records and fulfilment information. A screenshot of a current listing usually says little about when a particular sale occurred. Preserve the underlying export and explain its fields, rather than presenting a cropped image with an unexplained sales counter.

Advertising and exhibitions can also be relevant commercial use under Article 48. Link the branded material to publication or display: dated placement records, payment, publication copies, exhibitor records and photographs can help establish what reached the public. A design file stored internally requires evidence of actual commercial deployment. Service marks need comparable connections between the sign and the services actually provided.

Explain distributor and licensee use

Article 66 expressly includes use by an authorized licensee. Where a Chinese subsidiary or distributor made the sales, collect the authorization documents and the commercial records together. Identify the parties, covered mark, products, territory and relevant dates. If the authorization passed through several companies, explain each link instead of assuming that a shared group name proves permission.

A licence alone does not demonstrate completed use. Conversely, genuine transactions should not be discarded merely because the registrant did not issue the invoices personally. The question is whether the evidence establishes qualifying use and the relationship allowing that use to be relied upon. Do not retrospectively date documents to fill a missing link.

Identify the weaknesses before filing

Separate strong contemporaneous evidence from later explanations. Undated packaging, unsupported witness statements and contracts without performance records leave obvious questions. Where branding changed, compare the historical sign with the registration and assess whether the differences affect its identity. Where records concern exports or transactions conducted entirely abroad, examine the actual activities and territorial connection; overseas sales should not simply be labelled Chinese use.

Assess coverage item by item. Evidence for one product does not automatically protect every item in the same class. Article 68 of the Implementing Regulations permits partial cancellation. The response should explain the goods actually used and any basis for maintaining related designated goods, rather than treating a class number as the answer.

If there was no qualifying use, investigate a proper reason honestly. Article 67 identifies force majeure, government policy restrictions, bankruptcy liquidation and other reasons not attributable to the registrant. Assemble dated evidence of the event and its impact. A general statement that the business had postponed its launch does not establish those conditions.

Submit a coherent response and retain the receipt

Use a numbered index with the source, date, relevant goods and proposition for each exhibit. Explain linked records in short chronological narratives, prepare the required Chinese translations, and check that the submitted files remain legible. Keep a complete copy and the filing acknowledgement. Receipt of a filing does not establish acceptance of the evidence or success on the merits.

For a review of a non-use cancellation notice, provide the complete notice and service records, registration details, authorization chain and representative transaction bundles. That file allows the response to focus on the actual gaps before the deadline expires.

Pan Jianxing
China-qualified lawyer · Partner, 北京市长安律师事务所
Beijing & Shenzhen
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