In trademark agency cases, coexistence agreements are mostly used in reviewing refusal cases. When the applied trademark is rejected by China National Intellectual Property Administration for citing a prior similar trademark, as one of the ways to clear the prior citation obstacles, the applicant and the owner of the cited trademark will reach coexistence through negotiation and seek opportunities to apply for trademark registration. The coexistence agreement is not only applicable to rejection review cases, but also to cases of reviewing registration refusal.

Acting for the opponent, we filed an application for objection to the trademark "ICONIX". China National Intellectual Property Administration ruled that the opposed trademark and the cited trademark of the opponent "ICON" constitute similar trademarks on similar goods, and the opposed trademark shall not be approved for registration. The opponent who refuses to accept the ruling of the China National Intellectual Property Administration filed an application for the review of refusal of registration. During the period of review of the refusal of registration, the applicant (i.e. the original respondent) and the original opponent reach a settlement, therefore, the original opponent renounced the reexamination defense of the refusal of registration, and completed the notarization and certification procedures of the coexistence agreement within two months after the expiration of the defense period. Subsequently, the original respondent and the applicant submitted a coexistence agreement to China National Intellectual Property Administration respectively (the original notarized and certified coexistence agreement was submitted by the original opponent), and the original opponent claimed to voluntarily withdraw the opposition application. China National Intellectual Property Administration finally recognizes the coexistence agreement, and considers that there are some differences between the disputed trademark and the cited trademark as a whole, as a result, the two did not constitute the situation stipulated in Article 30 of the Trademark Law, and the disputed trademark is approved and registered.  

Through the above cases, if there is a certain difference between the disputed trademark and the cited trademark in the process of the review of disapproval of registration, if the two sides reach a settlement and can submit the original notarized and certified copy of the coexistence agreement to China National Intellectual Property Administration before the decision of disapproval of registration, At the same time, if the original opponent explicitly claims to withdraw the opposition, usually, China National Intellectual Property Administration will recognize the coexistence agreement. Therefore, when the applied trademark is opposed by others, in the case that the opposed trademark is similar to the cited trademark but there are some differences, it can also try to negotiate and settle with the other party, and obtain the registration of the applied trademark by reaching a coexistence agreement. However, it is important to note that the coexistence agreement also needs to satisfy the basic formal requirements. 

First of all, the coexistence agreement shall be authentic, legal and effective, represents the true meaning of both parties, and not infringe the national interests, social public interests, the legal rights and interests of the third party. Otherwise, it will not be adopted.

Secondly, the co-existence agreement should clearly specify the specific information of the trademark in dispute, but the co-existence agreement with conditions or deadlines is generally not accepted, for example, the co-existence agreement clearly adds payment terms, validity period and so on.

Furthermore, "Beijing High People's Court Administrative Case Trial Guide for Trademark Authorization and Right Confirmation" also clearly points out that "if the cited trademark is the same or basically the same as the disputed trademark, and the trademark is used on the same or similar goods, the application for registration of the disputed trademark cannot be granted only on the basis of the coexistence agreement". In reviewing the coexistence agreement in refusal registration review cases, China National Intellectual Property Administration will also consider the degree of similarity between the disputed trademark and the cited trademark, and whether the coexistence of trademarks will cause confusion and misrecognition among the relevant public.