Prior copyright is an important weapon to shoot down malicious trademarks. In the litigation initiated by “Ritz-Carlton”, a famous hotel brand, against trademark No. 1962902, the court supported the claim by Ritz-Carlton that it enjoyed the prior copyright of Lion Head graphics [(2010) Yi Zhong Zhi Xing Chu Zi No.3223].

Specifically, the court determined that the following conditions should be satisfied for infringement of copyright: a) the work should meet the requirement of copyright law to be protected as a work of art; b) the work is still covered by the protection term; c) the counterparty likely had access to the work; d) the disputed trademark is identical or substantially similar to the work; e) the creation of the work was completed before the disputed trademark.

Source: https://www.managingip.com/article/b1l3x5dzq79tq8/how-does-chinese-trademark-law-deal-with-bad-faith