Calculate legal service before the response period

Article 10 of the Implementing Regulations provides a fifteen-day deemed-service rule for electronic documents, unless the party proves when the document entered its electronic system. A later download or forwarding email does not itself reset the clock. Establish the dispatch, system-entry and legally effective receipt record before calculating the separate response period. The starting day, corresponding-date rules and statutory-holiday adjustments must also be checked.

Introduction: a partial refusal does not have to cost you the whole application

A Chinese trademark application is examined against a list of goods or services. Where the application covers several items and some are refused, the office issues a partial refusal. The applicant faces a choice that many foreign owners never learn exists: fight the refusal on the whole application and wait, or split the application so that the acceptable part can proceed to registration while the refused part is contested separately.

That mechanism is the divisional application, and it is one of the most useful procedural tools available to a foreign applicant.

Why the choice matters

Time is the reason. A refusal triggers a review procedure, and a review takes time. An applicant that waits for the outcome of the review on the whole application delays registration of the goods or services that were never in dispute.

A divisional application cuts through that. The undisputed part is divided out and can proceed independently, so the applicant obtains registration for the accepted goods or services on the normal timetable. The refused part continues to be contested on its own.

For a brand entering the Chinese market, being able to register the core goods or services now while arguing about a peripheral item later is a material advantage.

The deadline is short

Under Article 22 of the Implementing Regulations, request division within 15 days of receiving the partial-refusal notice. The preliminary-approved part can receive a new application number while retaining the original filing date.

The two consequences follow directly:

  • Treat the partial refusal notice as an urgent document, not as correspondence to be reviewed in the ordinary course.
  • Compute the deadline from the service date, not the date the notice was noticed. Under the deemed service rule, an electronically served document is treated as served fifteen days after dispatch.

A foreign applicant relying on a paper notice reaching a distributor or former agent can lose the window without ever having seen the document.

How the division works in practice

The applicant files a divisional application, dividing the original application into two. One part retains the goods or services that were accepted; the other carries the refused items and becomes the vehicle for the review.

Several practical points apply.

Decide the split deliberately. The division determines what is registered and what remains at risk. Put the commercially important items in the part that can proceed, and keep items you genuinely need in the contested part.

The refused items are not abandoned. Filing a division is not an acceptance of the refusal. The review of the refused items continues.

The review on the refused part depends on the divisional application. A division filed and then left without a review is a division that achieves nothing.

Watch the goods and services descriptions in both parts. They must be coherent, and the office will examine the division for internal consistency.

Interaction with the review procedure

Division and refusal review are separate procedural requests, but both ordinarily have 15-day periods from receipt of the partial-refusal notice. Confirm the service date, filing channel and each submission; do not assume one request includes the other.

The safe approach is to diarise both on receipt of the refusal, and to treat the earlier of the two as the operative date for planning purposes.

A note on foreign applicants and the filing channel

Where an application was originally filed at a trademark acceptance window rather than online, the applicant may need to convert the case to self-handling through the online system in order to file the divisional application and the accompanying response electronically. Where that conversion is required, it should be done immediately on receipt of the refusal, since it takes time and it consumes part of the window.

This is a specific trap for foreign applicants whose Chinese agent filed at a physical window. The route to filing the division may not be the route by which the application was made.

Why partial refusals are common for foreign applicants

Partial refusals are frequent, and foreign applicants attract them more often than domestic ones for a reason that is worth understanding.

Chinese applications are examined against the Nice classification and against CNIPA's own accepted-goods database. A foreign applicant drafting its own specification, or translating a foreign specification directly, often produces goods and services descriptions that are broader or differently worded than the office accepts. The office then refuses the items it does not accept while allowing those it does.

The result is an application that is partly granted and partly refused. That outcome is not a disaster, and it is not a signal that the application was poorly conceived. It is the ordinary consequence of a specification drafted outside China being reconciled with Chinese practice. The divisional mechanism exists precisely so that the acceptable part is not held hostage to the disputed part.

The corollary is practical: a foreign applicant should expect partial refusals and should prepare for them at filing, by keeping the specification structured so that the commercially core goods or services can be identified quickly if a division becomes necessary.

The interaction with the review on the refused items

Where the applicant divides and contests, the review runs on the divisional part. If the review succeeds, the refused items are registered and the two parts of the original application are effectively joined in their legal effect, held in a single ownership and available to be dealt with together in future.

If review fails, the refused items are lost while the accepted part can still proceed, subject to its own publication and any opposition. Division can accelerate the accepted part; failing to request division does not itself turn accepted items into refused items.

For a foreign brand owner the practical recommendation is therefore straightforward: where a partial refusal is received and the accepted items are commercially important, divide. The cost of doing so is modest and the downside of not doing so can be the whole application.

Frequently asked questions

What is a divisional trademark application?

Where a partial refusal is issued, the applicant may divide the application so that the goods or services that were accepted proceed to registration while the refused part is contested separately.

Why would I divide rather than just appeal?

Division allows the accepted part to proceed without waiting for the refused part's review. Without division the accepted part is normally held until the refusal/review position is settled; it is not automatically forfeited.

How long do I have to file the division?

15 days from receipt of the partial-refusal notice, under Article 22 of the Implementing Regulations. Calculate receipt and holiday adjustments under the applicable rules.

When does the deadline actually start?

From the service date, which is calculated under the service rules. Where the document is served electronically it is deemed served fifteen days after dispatch, so the effective start can be earlier than expected.

Does the refused part get abandoned if I divide?

No. Filing the division is not an acceptance of the refusal, and the review of the refused items continues on the divided-out part.

Can I divide and appeal at the same time?

Yes, and in practice you usually should. Note that the division window and the review window are separate clocks that may not expire on the same day, so diarise both.

What if my application was filed at a physical window?

You may need to convert the case to self-handling through the online system in order to file the division and respond electronically. Do this immediately on receipt of the refusal, because the conversion takes time.

Related reading

Received a partial refusal on a Chinese application? We handle divisional filings and refusal reviews for foreign applicants.

More filing traps explained

See our seven common China trademark filing traps for source-linked answers on partial refusal, evidence periods, related-mark assignments and corporate name histories. The article distinguishes the official replies from our practical recommendations.

Official references