If your trademark needs to cover multiple classes, PUYIZHICHAN, based on our agency experience and the current state of trademark applications in China, recommends that you file separate applications for each trademark class. The reasons are as follows:
I. Significant Risks Associated with Combined Multi-Class Applications
According to PUYIZHICHAN's research on the official website of the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA): by the first ten months of 2025, the total number of trademark applications in China had exceeded 3.59 million, and the total number of valid registered trademarks had surpassed 50 million. The high volume of applications and existing registrations has led to increasingly scarce trademark resources available for registration in China. Coupled with increasingly stringent examination standards, the difficulty of obtaining a trademark registration is rising. Against this backdrop, the potential drawbacks of filing a combined multi-class application (a single application covering multiple classes) are amplified, while the advantages of separate applications become more prominent.
II. Core Advantages of Filing Separate Applications
Independent Examination, Avoiding "One Failure Affecting All"
When filing separate trademark applications for each class in China, each class receives an independent application number. The CNIPA examines each class independently (including formal and substantive examination). If an application in one class faces a rejection due to reasons like similarity or lack of distinctiveness, it does not affect the examination process of applications in other classes. Applications in the remaining classes can proceed normally to the publication and certificate issuance stages. In contrast, for a single application covering multiple classes, if any one class encounters a rejection, it may lead to a suspension of the examination for the entire application (e.g., waiting for the outcome of a review of the rejection), causing applications in all other classes to be put on hold simultaneously, significantly extending the overall timeline for obtaining the registration certificate(s).
Risk Isolation, Improving Overall Registration Success Rate
The usage scenarios and distribution of similar trademarks may vary across different classes. Filing separate applications for each class allows for tailored strategies to address the specific risk points in different classes, responding to examination opinions in a targeted manner, thereby reducing the probability of rejection. A combined application, however, must respond to the examination of all classes under a unified standard, making it difficult to flexibly adapt to the specific examination requirements of different classes.
Controllable Progress, Shortening the Certificate Acquisition Timeline
The examination progress for each class in separate applications is independent. Classes without conflicts can pass examination quickly and have registration certificates issued, enabling "certificate acquisition and use first." For a combined application, even if some classes pass examination, one must wait until the examination of all classes is complete (or any review proceedings are concluded) before the certificates for the entire application can be issued. This can lead to significant delays in obtaining certificates for risk-free classes, affecting the timeline for putting the trademark into use.
Flexible Rights Management, Adapting to Future Business Needs
After registration, if operations such as assignment, licensing, or pledge are involved, separately registered classes can be handled independently (e.g., assigning only one core class, licensing the use right for specific classes). This adapts to various business scenarios like cross-border e-commerce and brand extension. A trademark registered via a single application covering multiple classes lacks flexibility in subsequent operations, which may limit business cooperation and resource optimization.
III. Summary and Recommendation
Considering the current Chinese trademark examination rules and market competition, filing separate applications for each class for a multi-class trademark is a more prudent and efficient choice. It can avoid the risk of a partial rejection delaying the entire application, improve the examination success rate, shorten the certificate acquisition timeline, and also reserve greater flexibility for subsequent trademark rights management and commercial operations.
PUYIZHICHAN can provide services including multi-class trademark search and analysis, application strategy formulation, and agency services for filing separate applications by class, committed to helping your brand progress steadily and go far! If you are planning to apply for a trademark in China, please consider our agency services.
