The so-called voluntary principle of registration means that the trademark owner decides whether to apply for trademark registration according to his own needs and wishes.

The so-called compulsory registration principle refers to the mandatory provisions of the state that trademarks used by producers or operators on certain goods or services must be registered according to law before they can be used.

Article 6 of the Trademark Law stipulates: "Goods that must use registered trademarks as stipulated by the state must apply for trademark registration, and may not be sold in the market without approval". At present, the only commodity with compulsory trademark registration in China is tobacco products (see Article 20 of the Tobacco Monopoly Law for details).

2, the principle of registration

The so-called registration principle means that the trademark owner must register his trademark through approval before he can obtain the confirmation of the exclusive right to use the trademark.

Article 3 of China's Trademark Law stipulates: "A trademark approved and registered by the Trademark Office is a registered trademark, and the trademark owner enjoys the exclusive right to use the trademark and is protected by law."

3. The principle of centralized national registration

It means that the trademark registration in China must be uniformly examined and approved by the national trademark authorities.

Article 2 of the Trademark Law stipulates that "the Trademark Office of the State Council Administration for Industry and Commerce is in charge of the national trademark registration and management".

4. The principle of applying first

Where two or more applicants for trademark registration apply for registration with the same or similar trademarks on the same commodity or similar commodities, the trademark applied earlier shall be preliminarily examined and announced, and the applications of others shall not be announced.

5, the application of the principle of priority

Where two or more applicants for trademark registration apply for registration with the same or similar trademarks on the same or similar goods at the same time, they shall preliminarily examine and approve the use of the earlier trademark, reject the applications of others and make an announcement.