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China Trademark Non-Use Cancellation

A registration that has not been used in China for three straight years can be cancelled — and in this action the burden of proof sits with the owner, not with you.

$199 all-inclusive

Clear This Mark

3 years

Of no use, without proper reason

Any person

May apply to cancel the mark

On the owner

To prove use, not on the applicant

USD 199

All-inclusive, official fee included

What a Chinese non-use cancellation involves

A Chinese registration can be cancelled if the mark has not been used, for three consecutive years without a proper reason. The application can be made by any person — you do not have to own a conflicting mark, or show that the registration is hurting you. The CNIPA then puts the question to the registered owner, who must produce evidence of use within the period set.

That reversal is what makes this action different from every other one on this site. In an invalidation you have to prove your case; here, the owner has to prove theirs. If the evidence of use is thin, dated wrongly, or describes goods and services outside the classes actually registered, the registration is revoked — no matter how strong the mark might otherwise have been.

Non-use cancellation is therefore the workhorse of clearing obstacles. Where an application has been refused because of an earlier registration, cancelling that registration removes the citation and the application can proceed. It is equally effective against a mark registered defensively by someone who has never traded under it in China.

Two practical points. First, the action attacks the goods and services, not the whole registration: use proven for some items leaves those items registered, so the outcome is often partial cancellation. Second, the aftermath has changed. Today a cancelled registration drags a one-year bar behind it — the CNIPA will not approve an identical or similar application for a year. Under the revised Trademark Law effective 1 January 2027 that bar is confined to registrations the owner cancels voluntarily, so a cancellation you obtain will no longer hold up your own refiling. We tell you which rule applies to your timing.

What the $199 cancellation fee covers

Register check before we file We confirm the registration is live, identify the classes and goods in issue, and check that a cancellation is the right tool for what you actually need.

The application, drafted to hold The request is drawn so that the goods and services in issue are identified precisely — a vague application invites a vague answer.

Supporting evidence where needed Where we act for the owner in a defence, or where the applicant needs to show standing in a related matter, we organise and translate what is needed.

Filing and follow-up Filed with the CNIPA, with the owner’s response tracked and the decision reported to you in English.

Reading the owner’s evidence When the owner responds, we assess whether their evidence genuinely covers the relevant period and goods, and press the point where it does not.

Use of the result If the citation is cleared, we tell you exactly what it unlocks — a refused application revived, a new filing that no longer needs to await a bar, or an infringement risk removed.

The fee is all-inclusive for the standard scope above: the CNIPA official fee is already inside the price and is never billed separately.

How cancellation runs

Send us the registration

The registration number, or the mark itself if you do not have one. We pull the record, confirm who owns it and what it covers, and give you a view on whether the action is worth filing.

We file and the owner must answer

The CNIPA notifies the registered owner, who has to submit evidence of use covering the relevant three years. A failure to respond, or a response without evidence, ordinarily ends the registration.

We test the evidence

Where the owner does respond, the question is whether the evidence shows genuine use of the mark, on the registered goods and services, in China, within the period. Marketing plans and undated material do not count for much.

You get the decision and what follows

The CNIPA decides within roughly nine months, extendable by three. We report the outcome — whole or partial cancellation — and set out how it affects the matter you are using it for.

Non-use cancellation fees

All fees are quoted in writing before anything is payable.

Item	Fee	What it covers
Cancellation of an unused registration	USD 199	Register check, preparation of the application, filing, review of the owner’s evidence and follow-up to the decision. All-inclusive.
Defence, if your own mark is attacked	Quoted on the facts	Where a cancellation is filed against a mark you own, we assemble the evidence of use and answer the action. Quoted in writing once we have seen the notice.
Invalidation instead, on other grounds	USD 299	Where the mark has been used but should never have registered — conflict with your earlier rights, or bad faith — invalidation is the route rather than cancellation.

Every price above is all-inclusive — the CNIPA official fees are already inside the quoted amounts and are never billed separately.

The three-year rule and the resulting position were checked on 2026-10-01. Note that the revised Trademark Law, effective 1 January 2027, narrows the one-year bar after cancellation to registrations cancelled voluntarily by their owner. The rules in force at the time your application is filed apply.

What you need to apply

Very little is needed from the applicant: the target registration and the details of who is applying. Nothing has to be notarized — clean scans are enough.

The registration number Identifies the mark to be cancelled, together with the classes or goods in issue if the attack is to be narrowed to part of the registration.

A short statement of the basis In practice we draft this, but tell us what you know: how long the mark appears to have been dormant, whether the owner trades in China at all, anything you have seen on the market or online.

Your own details for filing The name and address of the applicant. Any person may apply, so this need not be a trademark owner or a competitor.

Signed Power of Attorney A foreign applicant without a business presence in China must act through a CNIPA-registered agent. We send our standard form — a plain signed scan is enough, no notarization.

Non-Use Cancellation of a Chinese Trademark — common questions

How long must a Chinese trademark be unused before it can be cancelled?

Three consecutive years without use and without a proper reason. The three years are measured back from the date the cancellation is applied for, so a mark abandoned some time ago is usually a strong candidate.

Who has to prove what?

The registered owner must prove use. You do not have to prove that the mark was unused — that is what makes this action attractive. The owner has to show genuine use, in China, on the relevant goods and services, within the three-year period, and the CNIPA assesses whether the evidence actually does that.

What counts as use?

Use on the goods or in the course of trade in China: sales, packaging, labelling, invoices, advertising and licensing, among other things. Evidence has to be dated and has to relate to the registered goods and services. A marketing plan, an undated brochure, or use only on goods outside the registration generally does not carry it.

Can the cancellation be limited to some of the goods?

Yes, and often that is the outcome. If the owner proves use for some of the registered items but not others, the registration is cancelled for the items not used and survives for the rest. Where only part of a registration is blocking you, that partial outcome is usually all you need.

What happens to my own application once the blocking mark is cancelled?

Cancelling the earlier registration removes the citation, and the application can be examined without it. Where the application has already been refused, the cancellation is usually run alongside an application for review, with a request that the review be held over until the cancellation is decided.

Does anything change under the revised Trademark Law?

The three-year rule itself is unchanged, and the CNIPA gains an additional power to cancel dormant registrations on its own initiative. The practical change to note is the one-year bar that currently follows a cancellation: from 1 January 2027 it applies only where the owner cancels voluntarily, so clearing a citation will no longer delay your own refiling.

Is an unused Chinese registration blocking you?

Send us the registration number. We check the record, tell you honestly whether a cancellation is worth filing, and quote it in writing. Nothing is payable before you approve.

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