Recently, the online draw lot and notarization for trademarks filed on the same day was officially launched. The draw lot on the first day has been successfully concluded. There shall be 130 groups participated, involving more than 270 trademarks, among which 108 trademarks have passed by the drawing of lot.

According to the provisions of the Trademark Law, where the same or similar trademarks are applied for registration on the same day for the same or similar goods, each applicant shall submit to the Trademark Office evidence of prior use of the trademark before its application. If it is used on the same day or never used, the applicants can submit a written agreement to the Trademark Office after negotiation; if they are unwilling to negotiate or the negotiation fails, the Trademark Office will notify each applicant to determine one application by drawing lot and reject another application.

"Previously, the Trademark Office always adopted on-site draw lots. Applicants from all over the country need to prepare materials in advance and gather at the Trademark Office to participate in the on-site draw lot," a source with the Trademark Office said.

Affected by the coronavirus, the on-site draws lot could not be carried out normally, resulting in delays in the examination of related trademarks. In order to achieve the goal of reducing the average review period for trademark registration to less than 4 months this year, under the direct guidance of the leadership of the State Intellectual Property Office, the Trademark Office promptly launches new measure and adopts online draw lot to ensure that trademark applicants can obtain their trademark rights as soon as possible, effectively saving the cost of enterprises and government administration.

“Online draw lot reduces the registration cost of applicants, shortens the trademark examination period, and helps to improve the quality and efficiency of trademark examination, a source with the Trademark Office said. In order to ensure that the online draw lot system for trademark applications goes ahead on schedule, the Trademark Office has set up a special class to overcome the difficulties of tight time and heavy tasks. In just over a month, they completed the legal argumentation, software design, system testing and server stress testing, and successfully realized the online draw lot function. The draw lot for trademark applications filed on the same day was changed from on-site to online.

The online draw lot is welcomed by the applicants. Some said online draw lot greatly saves our time and reduces costs, and it also ensures fairness and justice, which is a good reform."

From July 20 to July 23, the Trademark Office has held 4 online draw lots for trademark applications filed on the same day, totally 617 groups (1,341 trademarks). As of 0:00 on July 18, more than 560 trademark applicants have completed account registration and passed the qualification review, involving 664 trademarks.