On November 27th, US time, USPTO released a 1319 page “SUPPLEMENTAL SHOW CAUSE ORDER” stating that over 53000 US trademarks in the name of Chinese applicants may be cancelled. The registration period of these trademarks varies from 18 to 23 years. Once the trademarks are cancelled, it is difficult to recover them, and cannot be used in Amazon as well as other platforms any more.

USPTO believes that the Chinese IP agencies are violating the USPTO Rules of Practice in Trademark Cases and the Rules governing Representation of Others before the USPTO. Specifically, Respondents are believed to be engaging in unauthorized practice before the USPTO in trademark matters and providing false, fictitious, or fraudulent information in trademark submissions with the intent to circumvent these rules.

The Chinese IP agencies need to send an email before December 11, 2023 to provide a new explanation, otherwise they will face penalties including but not limited to the following:
-Permanent prohibition of the respondent from submitting trademark related documents on behalf of the respondent or others;
-Delete or cancel all trademark related documents submitted by the respondent;
-Delete communication information related to the respondent from all databases of applications or registrations of USPTO;
-Permanently suspend any USPTO accounts that contain contact information related to the respondent, and take all reasonable measures to prevent the respondent from creating or activating further accounts;
-Prevent future financial transactions involving credit cards used for payment and improper submissions or application fees related to the respondent;
-Terminate all ongoing litigation proceedings that involve the submission of opinions by the respondent.

In the show cause order, USPTO listed all US trademarks registered by the Chinese IP agencies between January 2014 and January 2023, more than 53000 in total. This means that if the agencies’ final response does not meet the satisfaction of the US Trademark Office, there is a high possibility that these trademarks will be completely removed.