The China National Intellectual Property Administration has issued the "Patent and Trademark Examination 'Fifteenth Five-Year' Plan," which proposes building a first-class patent and trademark examination institution by 2030 and sets out tasks for trademark examination including improving institutional rules, strengthening the examination system, and enhancing examination quality and efficiency. This article explains the nature and boundaries of this plan, analyzes its practical significance for companies operating brands in China in terms of trademark searches, application materials, goods and services items, and preparation for rights confirmation procedures, and identifies matters that can be checked in advance.
The China National Intellectual Property Administration recently issued the "Patent and Trademark Examination 'Fifteenth Five-Year' Plan," publicly announced on 11 month 3 day. The plan proposes that by 2030, a first-class patent and trademark examination institution with Chinese characteristics and world standards will be basically established, with examination systems increasingly refined, examination quality significantly improved, international cooperation continuously deepened, and examination capabilities globally leading.
The Plan is a five-year deployment document that sets out directions and tasks; most of its language does not directly create new examination rules. However, the several matters named in the trademark section point to how and what the examination authority examines, and their impact on companies is more concrete.
In the area of trademark examination, the plan proposes strengthening systematic regulation of malicious trademark registration applications, advancing penetrating supervision of the entities behind trademark applications, strengthening coordinated governance of malicious agency conduct by trademark agencies, and improving the early-warning prompt function of the trademark examination system.
The plan also requires deepening the governance of deceptive trademarks: improving the corresponding examination standards, declaring registered trademarks that are deceptive invalid ex officio, and implementing the provisions on ex officio revocation of registered trademarks used in a misleading manner. For emerging fields, the plan proposes exploring and studying trademark registration needs in areas such as artificial intelligence and virtual reality, and exploring preliminary review of trademark registration applications in emerging fields.
The common thread of these items is a shift from "case-by-case examination" to "identification of the application conduct itself": penetrating supervision targets actual controllers and related applications, coordinated agency governance targets mass filing on behalf of others, and ex officio handling of deceptive trademarks extends governance from the application stage to after registration. For law-abiding businesses, this is not a tightening; for companies troubled by trademark squatting and malicious oppositions, it adds a channel through which they can proactively report.
Beyond trademarks, the plan also deploys three key tasks: patent examination, international cooperation in examination business, and examination capacity building, and establishes 7 special projects, including improving patent examination rules for emerging fields, systematic governance of malicious trademark registration applications, and "AI+" examination. The international cooperation section proposes strengthening alignment with international high-standard economic and trade rules such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership—this can serve as background for observing the examination authority's direction, but does not equate to a guarantee that companies will obtain registration in any overseas market.
For businesses, three things can be done first. First, take stock of existing trademark assets and check whether the registered classes and goods/services for core brands cover current and near-term product lines, and whether there are cases where only the main class was registered while use has already extended to other classes. Second, check evidence of use: whether sales, promotion, packaging, and contracts can be preserved in a traceable way by brand and by time—this is key in review of refusals, oppositions, cancellations, and even in responding to challenges of "not for the purpose of use." Third, pay attention to procedural milestones: for applications already in examination, opposition, or review, prepare responses under the current rules rather than waiting for supporting detailed rules to be issued before supplementing.
The plan also requires examination authorities at all levels to clarify their primary responsibilities, formulate annual work plans, conduct regular assessments and exchanges, and strengthen policy interpretation and public legal education; follow-up detailed supporting documents are highly likely to appear. Businesses can treat this as an observation window: follow rule adjustments while organizing trademark files into a list that can be updated at any time—brand, class, application number, current procedural status—marking which items do not match actual use and which evidence is missing.
Source: National Intellectual Property Administration, "Patent and Trademark Examination 'Fifteenth Five-Year' Plan," published on 2026 year 11 month 3 day; Xinhua News Agency and China Media Group reported on the same day.
Note: The content of this article is compiled from public information and is only general intellectual property popularization and practical observation, for information reference only; it does not constitute legal advice or other professional advice for any specific case, and the relevant determinations and conclusions should be subject to the official published documents and the actual circumstances of the individual case.
This article is provided for general information only and does not constitute legal advice on a specific matter. Editorial standards ↗
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