The rules of brand competition in the Chinese market are about to undergo a historic transformation. On June 26, 2026, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress reviewed and approved a comprehensive revision of the Trademark Law. As the first major amendment since its implementation in 1983 over forty years ago, this is not merely a technical adjustment of legal clauses, but a fundamental reshaping of market order and brand strategy by Chinese authorities. For business owners operating in the Chinese market, this means the end of the "first-to-file" speculative game, shifting the focus of brand layout from quantity to quality.
From the perspective of business management's moat theory, trademarks are the most critical defense line protecting a company from competitors, yet this defense has often been eroded by speculative behaviors such as bad-faith registration and hoarding. This amendment is designed to recalibrate this legal boundary. The new law heavily targets market chaos such as bad-faith registration and hoarding, explicitly stating that using trademarks in a way that misleads the public can result in a maximum fine of RMB 250,000 or even the revocation of the trademark. Furthermore, the protection of well-known trademarks has been expanded regardless of whether they are registered in China, squeezing the arbitrage space for speculators and steering competition back to substantive brand operation.
This regulatory change poses both a major compliance risk and an excellent opportunity to clear market interference for enterprises. In the past, many foreign companies entering the Chinese market faced situations where their brand names were squatted by local agents or trademark trolls. The new law's strict crackdown on hoarding without genuine intent to use will effectively lower the threshold for companies to reclaim their trademark rights. However, this also means companies must adjust their defensive registration strategies, as registrations deemed to be in bad faith or unused for a long time may also face the risk of revocation.
In response to this critical change, business owners and legal executives should take the following specific actions. First, immediately review the company's trademark portfolio in China to ensure that all registered or pending trademarks have genuine intent to use and concrete business plans, avoiding revocation due to excessive defensive registration. Second, establish a comprehensive trademark monitoring mechanism, particularly for unregistered but well-known brands, to actively track market dynamics and utilize the expanded protection of the new law to eliminate infringement and misleading usage early on.
A brand is the accumulation of long-term corporate value, not a tool for short-term speculation. Wisdom Code IP provides professional consulting services for trademark layout strategy in China to help companies move forward steadily amidst regulatory changes. Since the new Chinese Trademark Law involves many implementation details and case-by-case variations, we recommend that business owners consult professional teams for evaluation regarding specific trademark disputes to ensure optimal protection.