As we all know, Alibaba has always been a benchmark in the industry in terms of trademark layout, in order to protect "Alibaba" and prevent others from maliciously registering similar trademarks, Alibaba Group has also registered defensive trademarks such as "Ali Mama", "Ali Sister" and "Ali Uncle" to protect trademarks in an all-round way, effectively preventing other merchants from preemptively registering and other behaviors.
Despite this, "Ali" fell on his heels in the trademark "Withdraw Three Miles". Alibaba's trademark No. 6685014 "Alimama" registered on May 14, 2010 was filed by an applicant on June 8, 2015 for cancellation of the three-year non-use of the registered trademark (i.e., withdrawal of the third year). In the absence of a return letter from Alibaba Group, the Trademark Office took the initiative to issue an announcement on the delivery of the notice. The 60-day announcement period and the 15-day statute of limitations for reexamination have passed, and Ali still has no response and no evidence of the effective use of the trademark is provided for defense, so the decision to cancel the trademark "Alimama" took effect.
As the name suggests, after three years of trademark registration, any organization or individual has the right to apply for cancellation of the trademark that others are idle and not used.
Article 49 of the Trademark Law provides that if a registered trademark becomes the generic name of the goods approved for use or is not used for three consecutive years without justifiable reasons, any entity or individual may apply to the Trademark Office for cancellation of the registered trademark. The Trademark Office shall make a decision within nine months from the date of receipt of the application. If there are special circumstances that need to be extended, it can be extended for three months with the approval of the administrative department for industry and commerce.
According to the data, there are about 100,000 Chinese characters in China, and 1,000 commonly used characters can cover about 92% of written materials, 2,000 words can cover more than 98%, and 3,000 words can cover 99%. In 2020, the number of trademark applications in China was 9358578, ranking first in the world for 17 consecutive years. The average number of valid trademarks owned by 10,000 market entities in China is 1,520. Trademarks are non-renewable resources, and the more successful the number of trademark registrations, the lower and lower the success rate of subsequent registrations. It is basically unrealistic to want to register a trademark with the same name on the same type of trademark.
The purpose of the establishment of the trademark "three withdrawals" system is to urge the trademark owner to make true, legal, standardized, open and effective commercial use of the registered trademark on the goods or services approved for use, so as to give full play to the important role of the trademark itself and activate the trademark resources.
With the increasing total number of trademark registrations in China, trademark resources are becoming more and more scarce, and new trademark registration applications are blocked by the same and similar trademarks registered earlier. Therefore, the "cancellation of trademark three" has become the most effective means for trademark applicants to remove the obstacles of prior trademarks and obtain trademark registration. The system of cancellation of registered trademarks has played an important role in eliminating idle trademarks, curbing improper hoarding and promoting fair competition in China.