1. The Concept of Trademark Oppositions

Response to Trademark Opposition is a legal behavior, in which the opposed of the trademark opposition refutes the opposition grounds before the deadline in writing.

When a mark passed the preliminary examination for approval, and entered in a 3-month period of publication, the opposition procedure will be started once any third party raise an opposition against this mark. Whether the applicant could get exclusive rights of this mark depends on the ruling on the opposition by CTO (China Trademark Office).

CTO will send the copy of opposition documents of the opponent to the opposed, and give the opposed a 30-day period to refute the opposition grounds, and if the opposed doesn’t refute before the deadline in writing, it will be treated as giving up the right to refute, and the opposition procedure will go on.

2. The necessary content of the response to opposition

1) Respondent should be the opposed or the appointed agent of the opposed.

2) There are clear grounds to refute.

3) The response should be made before the deadline.

3. Notes:

1) If the documents in response are in foreign languages other than Chinese, they should be translated into Chinese, or will not be accepted.

2) According to article 22(2) of Regulation on the Implementation of Trademark Law, if the opposed need to supplement evidence materials after the response to the opposition, he should claim it in the response, and submit the subsequent evidence within three months from the response.

4. The Ruling

There would be two results.

1) The grounds of opposition can’t stand, and the opposed mark is registered.

2) The grounds of opposition are reasonable, and the opposed mark is not registered.

If any party dissatisfies with the result, he could appeal in front of the TRAB within 15 days from the receipt of the ruling.