Your Position: 

Famous Trademark is a special type of trademarks recognized by Trademark Office of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce in China. Famous Trademarks are those trademarks that are widely known by the public and thus they can enjoy better protection from infringement. In 1984 China acceded to the Paris Convention for Protection of Industrial Property and became its 95th member country. As provided in the Paris Convention, China provides special legal protection to the Famous Trademarks .

I. The standards for recognition of well-known trademarks go as follows:

(1) The trademark must be in use for more than three years from date of registration.

(2) The main economic indicators, including sales volume, net profits and taxes, of the commodities or services involving the trademark in the recent three years have ranked high amongst its competitors in China.

(3) This trademark enjoys a good reputation and is highly recognized by consumers.

(4) The related products or services have large market share and extensive sales network and after-sales service support.

(5) The related products or services have good quality and receive few consumer complaints.

(6) The advertising for the related products or services have wide coverage.

(7) The owner of the trademark has comprehensive brand management system. They are highly conscious of the use, management and protection of the trademark.

(8) The owner of the trademark never infringed upon the rights of other registered trademarks in the process of using this trademark in the past three years.

II. The advantages of Famous trademark go as follows:

(1) In addition to trademark protection in its own class of registration, famous trademark enjoy protection in other classes in which they might not be registered.

(2) Famous trademarks can enjoy cross-regional protection.

(3) Famous trademarks cannot be used as company names or trade names by other entities.

(4) Famous trademarks cannot be used as domain names by other entities.

(5) Famous trademark can make use of the characters (Well-known Trademark) in its products and their packing, decoration, advertising, business letters, brochures, exhibitions and other promotion activities.

(6) The owner of a famous trademark can receive rewards and enjoy the preferential policy from the local government.

(7) In order to protect the legitimate interests and good reputation of the enterprises with the well-known trademarks, the local administrative, judicial and corporate departments and others shall regularly or irregularly carry out the special law-enforcement operation against trademark infringements.

III. Materials required in application for recognition of Famous Trademark:

(1) Copy of business license;

(2) Copy of trademark registration certificate;

(3) Evidence of the products sales volume and territory relating to use of the trademark and their ranking in the same industry in China;

(4) Evidence of the products’ annual sales volume, profits and market share in the last three years in countries other than China;

(5) Advertising spending of the trademark in the last three years;

(6) The earliest time and duration for use of this trademark;

(7) Details of trademark registration in China and other countries;

(8) Copies of the annual tax statements or other statements in the last three years, which are stamped with the financial seal of the applicant as well as the special seal of the local tax department;

(9) Other certification documents in respect of the famous-trademark recognition of this trademark.