Relevant parties should avoid registering or using the following signs containing foreign geographical names as trademarks. Trademark registration applications with relevant circumstances may be rejected for violating the specific provisions of Article 10, paragraph 1 (b), (g), (h) and Article 10(2) of the Trademark Law, and those that have already been registered may face the risk of being declared invalid according to the law.

(i) Country names

Relevant parties should avoid registering or using as a trademark that contains the name of a country or is identical or similar to the name of a country. For example: "Spain", "Latvia", "Andorra" and so on. Except with the consent of the government of that country, or if the relevant sign has a clear other meaning and will not cause the public to misidentify it, or if the part of the name of the country is independent of the other distinctive parts of the sign, and only serves the function of truly indicating the country to which the applicant belongs.

(ii) Publicly known foreign geographical names 

It refers to the geographical names of countries or regions other than China that are known to the Chinese public, including full names, abbreviations, foreign names and common Chinese translations. Relevant parties shall avoid registering or using as a trademark that: 1. consists of a foreign place name known to the public; 2. contains a foreign place name known to the public, which is easy to be misidentified as a place of production; 3. does not have exactly the same composition as a foreign place name known to the public, but the similarity of word shape and pronunciation is sufficient to make the public mistakenly believe that the name of the place, and thus misidentification of the place of production occurs. For example: "Havana" (the capital of Cuba, a well-known city name), "Massachusetts" (the abbreviation of the state of Massachusetts in the United States), “Tuscany” (the name of the Italian region, the birthplace of the Renaissance), “Florence” (the capital of Tuscany and a tourist attraction in Italy), "Little Bari", etc.

(iii) Foreign geographical names not known to the public in China whereas are known for the production of certain goods or the provision of certain services

It refers to foreign geographical names that are not known to the public in China, if the corresponding geographical area itself is famous for producing certain goods or providing certain services, and the use of which in the designated goods or services is likely to cause the relevant public to misidentify the place of origin, the parties concerned shall refrain from registering or using the said sign as a trade mark. For example, "Imabari" (designated goods: textile towels, blankets, etc.) (Note: "Imabari" is the name of a city in Japan, which has the largest production of towels in Japan, and is well known to the relevant public).

(iv) Names of places, sites, etc. for religious activities

Relevant parties should avoid registering or using as trademarks that are identical or similar to the names of places and venues of religious (Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Christianity, Catholicism, etc., as well as branches of different sects) and folk beliefs. For example: "MECCA" (the Islamic holy place "Mecca"), etc.