1、 What is the system of withdrawing three?

1. According to Article 49, Paragraph 2 of China's Trademark Law, if a registered trademark is not used for three consecutive years without justifiable reasons, any unit or individual may apply to the Trademark Office for revocation of the registered trademark, commonly known as the "revocation of three" system.

The legislative purpose of the Trademark Law to establish the system of revoking registered trademarks that have not been used for three consecutive years without justifiable reasons (revocation of three) is to urge trademark registrants to use their trademarks legally and effectively, objectively to clean up idle trademarks, curb malicious registrations, and maintain fair competition order. It can to some extent suppress the practice of "registering without using" and curb the abuse of registered trademark exclusive rights for improper benefits.

2. Specifically manifested as:

① Activate trademark resources. Encourage trademark owners to actively use their trademarks that have obtained exclusive trademark rights, to prevent phenomena such as "trademark hoarding" and "trademark registration";

② Clean up idle trademarks. Save trademark resources and clear obstacles for market entities with genuine and good faith intentions to apply for registration and use trademarks in accordance with the law.

The revocation of the three regulations is a management norm for trademark use, rather than a requirement norm for trademark registration. It is of great significance to promote the effective use of registered trademarks, improve the market economy competition mechanism, and promote economic development.

3. The trademark usage system mainly includes:

① The prior use of trademarks is mainly reflected in Article 59 (3) of the Trademark Law;

② There are mainly two modes of trademark law in various countries: the use acquisition mode and the registration acquisition mode. China adopts the registration acquisition mode;

③ Maintain registration and use;

④ The direct manifestation of infringement protection in China's current Trademark Law is the provision in Article 64.

4. Burden of proof

The burden of proof shall be borne by the trademark registrant (as stipulated in Article 66 of the Implementing Regulations of the Trademark Law).

If a registered trademark is not used for three consecutive years without justifiable reasons as stipulated in Article 49 of the Trademark Law, any unit or individual may apply to the Trademark Office for revocation of the registered trademark, and relevant information shall be explained when submitting the application.

After the Trademark Office accepts the application, it shall notify the trademark registrant and require them to submit evidence materials or explain the legitimate reasons for not using the trademark before the revocation application is filed within 2 months from the date of receiving the notification; If the evidence materials for use are not provided upon expiration or if the evidence materials are invalid without justifiable reasons, the Trademark Office shall revoke the registered trademark.

The evidence materials referred to in the preceding paragraph include the evidence materials of the trademark registrant's use of the registered trademark and the evidence materials of the trademark registrant's permission for others to use the registered trademark. If an application for revocation of a registered trademark is made on the grounds of not using it for three consecutive years without justifiable reasons, the application shall be submitted after the expiration of three years from the date of the registration announcement of the registered trademark.

5. Requirements of Trademark Law on the Use of Trademarks

6. Legal definition of trademark use

Article 48 of the Trademark Law stipulates that the use of a trademark referred to in this Law refers to the act of using the trademark on goods, packaging or containers of goods, and commercial documents, or using the trademark in advertising, exhibitions, and other commercial activities to identify the source of goods.

Article 3 of the Implementing Regulations of the Trademark Law has been elevated to the Trademark Law, adding a description of the functions of the trademark on the basis of listing the ways in which the trademark is used. Returning to the essential characteristics of trademark use.

Starting from the basic function of identifying the source, it is necessary to comprehensively analyze the trademark usage methods and the effects on the relevant public.

7. The review process for withdrawing three

8. Regarding the starting point of the three-year contact period

For domestic registered trademarks, an application should be submitted after 3 years from the date of the trademark registration announcement (Article 66 (3) of the Trademark Law Implementation Regulations).

For Madrid international trademarks, an application should be submitted to the Trademark Office three years after the expiration of the rejection period for the international registration application of the trademark; If the rejection period expires and the applicant is still in the process of rejection review or objection, the applicant shall submit an application to the Trademark Office three years after the effective date of the registration approval decision made by the Trademark Office or the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board. (Article 49 (1) of the Implementing Regulations of the Trademark Law)

9. Precautions for withdrawal of three applications

① The application for revocation should be filled out accurately and in a standardized manner;

② For applications submitted directly, the applicant's main qualification certificate and the identity certificate of the handling person should be provided;

③ If entrusted to handle, a power of attorney should be submitted; The entrusted agency and the agency entrusted by the trademark registrant cannot be the same agency;

④ The name of the respondent should match the name of the trademark registrant;

⑤ The application for revocation of some goods or services shall correspond to the approved use of the trademark for the goods or services;

⑥ The reasons for revocation should be specified, and the relevant circumstances regarding the non use of the trademark should be explained;

⑦ The applied trademark must have been approved for registration for at least three years and be a valid registered trademark;

IIWithdrawal of Three Data Analysis

In practice, the Trademark Office will send the documents notifying the trademark registrant to defend the trademark to the registered address by registered mail. Some registered letters have been returned by the post office due to unclear addresses or the absence of the person.

Reason: After analysis, the main reasons for returning letters are:

Firstly, there are a large number of enterprises operating in different locations;

Secondly, the registrant failed to submit a registration trademark address change application to the Trademark Office in a timely manner after changing the address.

Countermeasure: In order to improve the delivery rate, in 2015, the Trademark Office expanded the scope of copying the defense notice, and copied the defense notice to the agent entrusted by the trademark registrant to handle other trademark business at the same time. This measure has achieved good social results. Since 2016, the proportion of evidence submitted by trademark registrants has significantly increased, and the proportion of non revocation decisions in corresponding case trials has also increased.

3、 Reasons and suggestions for the increasing number of three withdrawal phenomena year by year

1. Analysis of Application MotivationIn the later registration process, applicants tend to use the system of revoking three trademarks as a means to remove obstacles to trademark registration.

① The rapid growth of registration applications and limited trademark resources have increased the difficulty of successful registration;

② The phenomenon of malicious registration has increased, and the registered individuals have applied for revocation through means such as revocation or invalidation.

2. The situation of initiating the withdrawal of the third phase of alienation

① Uninvestigated speculative psychology and malicious submission of applications.

② Repeatedly filing applications to withdraw three trademarks in order to maliciously attack competitors and seize trademark rights.

3. Suggest trademark agency

① Guidance for applicants: Guide and encourage applicants to provide revocation facts, reasons, and explanatory materials to reduce the occurrence of malicious and blind applications. Encourage fair competition and avoid wasting national administrative and judicial resources.

② Guide the registrant to keep evidence of trademark use in daily production and operation, and submit evidence of use as required by administrative and judicial authorities.

4. Suggestions for Enterprises

Enterprises should enhance their awareness of trademark management, attach importance to trademark use, and prevent the risk of "three withdrawals".

Firstly, it is necessary to retain evidence of trademark usage, backup various usage evidence in daily operations, and collect and organize them by category. The Trademark Office and the National Archives Administration have issued the "Measures for the Management of Trademark Archives", which stipulate the requirements and methods for the collection, organization, archiving, storage, and utilization of trademark archives, providing reference for enterprises and other organizations to strengthen internal trademark archive management. Enterprises can refer to this method to establish a work system for enterprise trademark archives, improve the work system of enterprise trademark archives, regard trademark archives as an important component of enterprise archives, and do a good job in collecting, organizing, archiving, storing, retrieving, and providing utilization to help enterprises strengthen trademark registration, use, management, and protection.

Secondly, if the address registered with the Trademark Office cannot receive letters, please promptly apply for a change of address as required to ensure receipt of various documents issued by the Trademark Office and review, and to protect your rights in a timely manner.

Source: Public lecture learning platform of China National Intellectual Property Administration