Renewing a Chinese trademark before its ten years run out

A Chinese trademark registration lasts 10 years from approval. It can be renewed in the last 12 months of the term, or in the 6 months after it, with a late fee. The official fee online is RMB 450, plus RMB 225 if late. Once the grace period ends, CNIPA cancels the registration and only a new application remains.

Your brand was registered in China years ago, when you first sold there, and the certificate has been in a drawer since. China does not extend a registration by itself. Miss the date and the registration is cancelled, and the name can only be applied for again, in a system that gives a mark to whoever files first.

Renewing is a single application, with its dates printed on the certificate. The problems come from what has changed since the mark was filed. A company name may have changed since the mark was filed, or the brand may have been sold. Some marks were never used. And the revised Trademark Law in force from 1 January 2027 changes what happens to a name after a registration lapses.

When can a Chinese trademark be renewed?

In the 12 months before the registration expires, or in the 6 months after it with a late fee (Trademark Law Article 40).^⁠[1] A registration lasts 10 years from the day it was approved. Each renewal adds 10 years counted from the day after the old term ends, so filing early costs nothing in time.^⁠[1] The revised law keeps all three periods, and marks registered before 2027 stay valid.^⁠[2]

Say an Australian skincare brand’s Chinese registration was approved on 14 March 2017. Its term runs to 13 March 2027. The renewal window opened on 14 March 2026 and closes on 13 March 2027, and the grace period runs on to 13 September 2027. Renewed on any day in that span, the new term runs from 14 March 2027 to 13 March 2037.

Period	When	Official fee online
Renewal window	The 12 months before the registration expires	RMB 450 (RMB 500 on paper)
Grace period宽展期	The 6 months after it expires	RMB 450 plus a RMB 225 late fee
After the grace period	The registration is cancelled	No renewal; only a new application

Who files the renewal, and what does it cost?

The trademark registrant (商标注册人), since the law puts the renewal on the registrant. A foreign company with no place of business in China files it through a trademark agency established in China.^⁠[1,2] Its fee comes on top of the official fees in the table.

The filing is a renewal application. Once CNIPA (the China National Intellectual Property Administration) approves it, CNIPA issues a certificate of the renewal and publishes it (Regulations Article 33).^⁠[4] Our Trademark Strategy & Filing Coordination service searches the CNIPA register for the dates and the name on record, then coordinates the filing through to the certificate.

Our company changed its name since the mark was registered. What comes first?

Recording the change. A new name or address for the registrant is a change application of its own.^⁠[1,2] It has to cover every mark the registrant holds in China, the one due for renewal and all the others (Regulations Article 30).^⁠[4] Filed online it carries no official fee; on paper it costs RMB 150.^⁠[3]

The renewal is the registrant’s to file, so the company that applies should be the one CNIPA has on record.^⁠[1] A rebrand at home, a merger of group companies or a move of registered office can each leave the two apart.

We bought the brand. Who renews it?

Whoever is the registrant on the day, and a purchase does not make the buyer one until CNIPA publishes the assignment. An assignment is a joint application by seller and buyer on a written agreement, and the buyer holds the mark from the date of publication.^⁠[1,2] The official fee is RMB 450 online.^⁠[3]

The seller must assign with it any similar mark it holds on the same goods, and any identical or similar mark on similar goods. CNIPA refuses an assignment likely to cause confusion.^⁠[2] Where the mark passed by inheritance or another event that is not an assignment, the new owner records the transfer with the documents that prove it.^⁠[4] If a sale and an expiry fall in the same year, the seller is still the registrant until CNIPA publishes the assignment, so put the renewal date in the sale timetable.

What happens if the grace period passes?

CNIPA cancels the registration (注销), and with it the exclusive right to the mark.^⁠[1,2] Nothing can be renewed after that. The brand then needs a new application, filed and examined like any other.

The two laws differ on the year after a lapse. Under the law in force today, CNIPA refuses identical or similar applications for one year after a mark is cancelled for non-renewal. The 2026 text keeps a one-year bar only for a mark its owner surrenders, and only against other people’s filings.^⁠[1,2]

	Law in force to 31 December 2026	Revised law from 1 January 2027
Which ended registrations it follows	Revoked, declared invalid, or not renewed	Surrendered at the owner’s request
Which applications CNIPA refuses	Identical or similar applications	Other people’s, for identical or similar marks on the same or similar goods
Counted from	The date of revocation, invalidation or cancellation	The date the surrender is published

Does renewing protect a mark we have never used?

No. A renewal needs an application and a fee, not proof that the mark has been used.^⁠[4] A registration not used for three consecutive years without good reason can be cancelled on anyone’s application, renewed or not.^⁠[1] From 1 January 2027 CNIPA may also cancel it of its own motion (Article 57).^⁠[2]

So a renewal keeps an unused mark on the register without making it safe. Whether a Chinese partner’s use keeps the mark alive is covered in licensing your trademark in China.

Our China protection came through Madrid. Is renewal different?

Yes. A designation of China is part of the international registration, which is renewed through WIPO’s eMadrid service for 10 years at a time.^⁠[5] Renewing in the 6 months after expiry adds a 50% surcharge to the fee.^⁠[5] The Chinese deadlines that run from a designation are in designating China under Madrid.

What is still open for marks that lapse around 1 January 2027?

Two things, as of 22 October 2026. The first is which version of the one-year bar governs a mark whose grace period ends close to the date. The Supreme People’s Court’s draft on which law applies across the date, open for comment until 28 October 2026, does not mention renewal or the bar.^⁠[6]

The second is how CNIPA will examine a new filing for a lapsed mark in 2027. CNIPA published draft measures for handling business under the revised law, and draft examination guidelines, for comment on 29 September 2026, with comments due by 12 November.^⁠[7] A renewal filed inside the 12-month window depends on neither answer. The rest of the changeover is covered in which Trademark Law applies after 1 January 2027.

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Is a Chinese registration of yours due for renewal? Trademark Strategy & Filing Coordination Send us the registration numbers. We search the CNIPA register for the dates and the name on record, and coordinate the filing through to the certificate. From US$180, strategy in days; registration 9–12 months. See the service