The Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China, which came into effect on March 1, 1983 and has undergone four revisions, has ushered in a new round of systematic improvement. Recently, the revised draft of the Trademark Law was submitted for the first time to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for review, which has attracted widespread attention from all sectors of society. With the development of the economy and society, trademarks have become increasingly prominent as the core carrier of brand value for market entities. According to data, as of the end of 2024, China's cumulative number of trademark registration applications reached 83.523 million, and the number of valid registered trademarks reached 49.777 million, both ranking first in the world. At the same time, there have been some new situations and problems in the field of trademarks, such as the repeated prohibition of malicious trademark registration, improper use and refurbishment of trademarks, persistent trademark infringement, and the occurrence of excessive rights protection and malicious litigation by trademark registrants. These chaos not only disrupt the market order of fair competition, but also restrict the effective functioning of the trademark system. In recent years, the revision of the Trademark Law has been a focus of attention for National People's Congress deputies. At the annual National People's Congress, representatives put forward relevant suggestions and proposals, calling for accelerating the process of amending laws and using legal means to solve industry pain points. The reporter from the Rule of Law Daily invited Fan Yun, a National People's Congress representative, the President of the Shanghai Trademark and Brand Association, and an expert from the Financial Group of the Central United Front Work Department, Liu Zhongbin, a National People's Congress representative and the Director of the Reference and Consultation Department of the Nanjing Library, and Yin Jianmin, a National People's Congress representative and the Chairman of Lanzhou Xinyuan Modern Agricultural Technology Development Co., Ltd. and Xinyuan Natural Gas Co., Ltd., to provide suggestions and recommendations for the revision of the Trademark Law from different dimensions. Fan Yun: Improving the Design of the Civil Compensation System for Malicious Registration. I am a four term National People's Congress representative who has repeatedly proposed to amend the Trademark Law. Now that I see the amendment work entering a substantive stage, I am very pleased. In my opinion, the upgrade of the Trademark Law from "amendment" to "revision" is not a simple adjustment of legal provisions, but a scientific upgrade of the legislative system and modernization of the institutional system, marking two important transformations in China's trademark legal system - from "re registration" to "strengthening the obligation to use" and from "rights confirmation legislation" to "governance legislation". The revised draft of the Trademark Law closely focuses on brand building, innovative development, and enterprise needs, demonstrating distinct timeliness and pertinence. The revised draft clearly includes "dynamic logos" in the scope of registration, expanding the types of trademark registration. This not only conforms to the trends of digital economy, new media development, and international business practices, but also expands the broad space for brand innovation in China, providing solid legal support for enterprise brands to "go global". At the same time, through system reconstruction and institutional innovation, we have targeted prominent issues that have long plagued the development of the industry, such as malicious registration, "zombie trademarks," and the coexistence of infringement and abuse of power, demonstrating our determination to legislate to solve practical problems. I am pleased to see that multiple technical issues that I have been advocating for over the years have been reflected in the revised draft. At the same time, based on the performance research, I believe that there is still room for further improvement in the revised draft. It is suggested to follow the trend of international trademark protection and further expand the registration scope of non-traditional trademarks, including "single color trademarks" and "location trademarks". This not only responds to the actual needs of market entities, but also aligns with the trademark protection rules of countries with higher levels of commercialization internationally, helping Chinese enterprises better participate in international market competition. Regarding the regulation of trademarks containing place names, given that it is difficult to completely eliminate the use of such trademarks in practice, relevant provisions can be adjusted from prohibition clauses to distinctiveness clauses for standardization. This is also a consensus that legal experts and the industry have been calling for for many years. Another important issue is to further improve the design of the "civil compensation for malicious registration" system. It is suggested to delete the situation in the revised draft where the agency and the agent cannot accept the commission due to disputes arising from prior rights conflicts between the rights holders. The reason is that the rights holder should bear the cost of maintenance, and those who violate the rules should be liable for compensation. As intermediaries, proxy organizations and agents do not inherently enjoy relevant civil rights and only receive appropriate compensation in huge interest disputes. They should not assume obligations and responsibilities beyond their scope of benefits, nor should they treat "private rights" and clauses that violate "public interests" together. The establishment of a "malicious registration civil compensation" clause has multiple positive implications: on the one hand, the evidence threshold for litigation and the implementation of compensation settings for rights holders enable those who have truly suffered losses and have a need to use them to benefit; On the other hand, it also avoids a large amount of administrative resources being invested in private dispute areas with limited social impact. Civil compensation will also adjust the compensation amount based on the benefits of the defendant and intermediary organizations in each case, ensuring that the punishment is commensurate with malice and avoiding a one size fits all administrative penalty. Liu Zhongbin: It is suggested to add a principle clause prohibiting the abuse of rights. I have always been concerned about the phenomenon of excessive rights protection by trademark registrants. One of the key points of this revision of the Trademark Law is to strengthen the protection of trademark exclusive rights and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of all parties involved. The revised draft specifies that those who maliciously file trademark lawsuits shall be punished in accordance with the law, and those who cause losses shall bear civil liability in accordance with the law. I think this regulation has important guiding significance, but there is still room for further improvement to more effectively regulate various types of excessive rights protection behaviors. I would like to offer two specific suggestions regarding this matter. One is to clearly define excessive rights protection behavior and establish a compensation system. The scope of malicious litigation provisions in the revised draft is still too narrow and does not cover abusive behaviors such as issuing warning letters and malicious complaints. It is suggested to add a principle clause prohibiting the abuse of rights in the Trademark Law, and clearly stipulate the malicious rights protection behavior and its legal consequences. Specifically, on the one hand, it is necessary to define malicious rights protection, which refers to the behavior of trademark registrants who knowingly exercise their rights with the purpose of harming the legitimate rights and interests of others or seeking illegitimate benefits, despite knowing that their rights foundation has significant flaws; On the other hand, establishing a malicious rights protection and compensation system, in addition to compensating the other party for direct losses, can explore the introduction of punitive damages. The court has the right to demand that the rights defender compensate for the reasonable expenses of goodwill paid in response to complaints and lawsuits, as well as the related losses suffered as a result, based on the circumstances of the case. The second is to establish a blacklist for malicious behavior and a joint punishment system, and establish a credit punishment mechanism for malicious registration and malicious rights protection behavior. It is suggested that the China National Intellectual Property Administration be authorized in the Trademark Law to establish a credit record file of malicious trademark registration and rights protection, and clearly include malicious preemption of other well-known trademarks, rights protection based on malicious preemption of trademarks and other acts into the record file. For listed entities, their subsequent trademark applications may be restricted in accordance with the law, their litigation cases may be expedited, and information may be pushed to market supervision, finance and other departments. Restrictions may be imposed on trademark applications, policy incentives, credit financing and other aspects, and joint penalties may be implemented. In short, the core of these opinions lies in promoting the return of trademark protection from a rights based approach to a responsibility based approach, effectively curbing the abuse of rights through legal amendments, and returning the trademark system to the source of stimulating innovation. Yin Jianmin: Policy incentives for industrial brands in ethnic regions. I come from ethnic regions and deeply understand the importance of brand building for local industrial development and increasing people's income and wealth. The Dongxiang Ethnic Autonomous County in Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province, where I am located, was once a national level poverty-stricken area. Since the implementation of poverty alleviation and rural revitalization strategies, local characteristic industries have flourished, effectively driving the expansion of market sales scale and the improvement of people's income levels. Among them, the characteristic brand "Dongxiang Gongyang" is well-known throughout the country. However, I am also well aware of the practical difficulties faced by the local industry development: as a geographical indication public brand, the trademark registration of "Dongxiang Gongyang" has not been smoothly promoted for many years, which greatly restricts the further enhancement of brand value and also affects the scale and market-oriented development of the industry. Based on this, I suggest that the country should introduce targeted preferential policies for trademark registration, and give key support to characteristic industrial brands cultivated in ethnic areas and formerly impoverished areas. Specifically, for characteristic industry brands that have high market recognition, have formed a certain brand influence nationwide, and can effectively drive local people to increase income and become prosperous, a "green channel" should be opened up in trademark registration review, approval and other links, with appropriate relaxation of review standards and simplification of approval processes, to help characteristic industry brands in ethnic and underdeveloped areas "go global", empower rural revitalization with brands, and allow more people to share the dividends of industrial development. (New Society)