Who Should Register a Trademark in China?

Regi­ste­ring a tra­de­mark in Chi­na sho­uld be one of the first steps when star­ting a part­ner­ship with a Chi­ne­se com­pa­ny. This applies to both expor­ters and impor­ters who out­so­ur­ce pro­duc­tion to a Chi­ne­se factory.

Why Is Trademark Protection in China Important?

Chi­ne­se law cle­ar­ly deter­mi­nes who has the right to use a logo or tra­de name—and that right belongs to who­ever regi­sters it first with the Chi­ne­se Patent Offi­ce, regar­dless of whe­ther the same tra­de­mark has been regi­ste­red in ano­ther coun­try. Neglec­ting this step can lead to hosti­le tra­de­mark take­overs, which can have disa­stro­us con­se­qu­en­ces for your busi­ness expan­sion in China.

For exam­ple, Chi­ne­se customs autho­ri­ties may con­fi­sca­te goods pro­du­ced for you in a Chi­ne­se fac­to­ry sim­ply becau­se you do not own the rights to the logo on the pro­ducts. Inste­ad, an unre­la­ted com­pa­ny (Com­pa­ny X) that oppor­tu­ni­sti­cal­ly regi­ste­red your logo legal­ly owns it. Fur­ther­mo­re, Com­pa­ny X could then accu­se you of unfa­ir­ly using "the­ir" tra­de­mark and suing you for finan­cial dama­ges.

How Can Our Trademark Be Taken Over?

Tra­de­mark take­overs often occur when com­pa­nies pre­sent the­ir pro­ducts at tra­de fairs in Chi­na witho­ut secu­ring prior tra­de­mark pro­tec­tion. Whi­le the fair is still ongo­ing, it may turn out that an appli­ca­tion for your logo and tra­de name has alre­ady been sub­mit­ted to the Chi­ne­se Patent Offi­ce—most like­ly by some­one who visi­ted your booth or even some­one who sim­ply saw your logo on the exhi­bi­tor list publi­shed mon­ths befo­re the event. You may only find out abo­ut this issue when fina­li­zing your first orders after the tra­de fair—or, even wor­se, after the order has alre­ady been fulfilled.

In such cases, Chi­ne­se customs autho­ri­ties have the legal right to seize your goods. Even if you mana­ge to cle­ar customs and distri­bu­te your pro­ducts, the legal tra­de­mark owner in Chi­na (the Chi­ne­se com­pa­ny that regi­ste­red it first) can sue you or your Chi­ne­se part­ner for unau­tho­ri­zed use of the­ir intel­lec­tu­al pro­per­ty and cla­im finan­cial dama­ges. As a result, your goods could be con­fi­sca­ted, your distri­bu­tion chan­nels shut down, and you may face a costly set­tle­ment with the disho­nest Chi­ne­se company.

Losing a Trademark Without Even Attending a Trade Fair

Tra­de­mark theft can also hap­pen even if you never attend a tra­de fair. If you’ve star­ted nego­tia­tions with a Chi­ne­se part­ner and are clo­se to fina­li­zing a deal, or even if you’ve wor­ked for years with a tru­sted distri­bu­tor whom you con­si­der a friend, you are still at risk. The com­pa­ny you are in con­tact with may not have the right to regi­ster your tra­de­mark, but nothing stops, for exam­ple, the hus­band of the­ir cousin in a neigh­bo­ring pro­vin­ce from doing so.

The­re are hun­dreds, if not tho­usands of simi­lar cases whe­re fore­ign com­pa­nies assu­med the­ir Chi­ne­se part­ners were trustworthy—only to suf­fer finan­cial los­ses and frustration.

How to Prevent Trademark Theft?

The sim­plest and most effec­ti­ve solu­tion to avo­id such sce­na­rios is to regi­ster your tra­de­mark in Chi­na at the ear­liest sta­ge of your mar­ket entry plans—befo­re atten­ding tra­de fairs, star­ting busi­ness nego­tia­tions, or sha­ring any infor­ma­tion abo­ut your brand with poten­tial Chi­ne­se partners.

What to Do If You Lose Your Trademark in China?

If some­one has mali­cio­usly regi­ste­red your tra­de­mark in Chi­na, you can file a can­cel­la­tion requ­est to inva­li­da­te the­ir regi­stra­tion. If the tra­de­mark was regi­ste­red within the last three mon­ths, you also have the option to file an oppo­si­tion requ­est. Howe­ver, such a requ­est must be well-argu­ed and sup­por­ted by strong evi­den­ce.

We work clo­se­ly with a tru­sted Chi­ne­se law firm to assist in pre­pa­ring and sub­mit­ting the­se appli­ca­tions. Each case is ana­ly­zed indi­vi­du­al­ly, and we pro­vi­de guidan­ce on the best possi­ble stra­te­gy to rec­la­im your trademark.

In some cases, it may also be possi­ble to buy back the rights to your tra­de­mark in Chi­na. Alter­na­ti­ve­ly, if legal action fails, you might have to aban­don your exi­sting brand and under­go a rebran­ding to con­ti­nue sel­ling in Chi­na under a new name.

Both options, howe­ver, invo­lve signi­fi­cant finan­cial and time los­ses, making pro­ac­ti­ve tra­de­mark regi­stra­tion the best cour­se of action.

Our Trademark Registration Service Includes:

• Pre­pa­ra­tion and sub­mis­sion of the appli­ca­tion to the Chi­ne­se Patent Office
• Regi­stra­tion of a gra­phic mark (logo) and tra­de name in one of 45 pro­duct clas­ses and 10 sub­c­las­ses
• Con­sul­ta­tion on selec­ting the appro­pria­te pro­duct classes/subclasses
• Intel­lec­tu­al pro­per­ty pro­tec­tion advi­so­ry servi­ces in China
• All offi­cial fees cove­red within China
• Moni­to­ring of the regi­stra­tion pro­cess from appli­ca­tion sub­mis­sion to full tra­de­mark protection
• Deli­ve­ry of the ori­gi­nal cer­ti­fi­ca­te con­fir­ming your exc­lu­si­ve tra­de­mark rights in Chi­na, sent to your desi­gna­ted address

Trademark Registration Timeline in China:

• Within ~4 weeks of sub­mis­sion – The appli­ca­tion rece­ives an offi­cial regi­stra­tion num­ber. From this point, your tra­de­mark is pro­tec­ted under Chi­ne­se law.
• After 3–4 mon­ths – The Chi­ne­se Patent Offi­ce issu­es a pre­li­mi­na­ry appro­val, and the appli­ca­tion deta­ils are publi­shed in the public regi­stry.
• After ~12 mon­ths – The offi­cial tra­de­mark cer­ti­fi­ca­te is issu­ed and will be deli­ve­red to your address via courier.

Trademark Protection Period in China

Tra­de­mark pro­tec­tion in Chi­na is valid for 10 years. Howe­ver, if a tra­de­mark rema­ins unu­sed for 3 con­se­cu­ti­ve years, ano­ther par­ty may chal­len­ge your right to use it for busi­ness pur­po­ses in Chi­na. In such a case, it is cru­cial to pro­vi­de evi­den­ce that you have acti­ve­ly used the tra­de­mark during this period.

Exam­ples of accep­ta­ble pro­of include:

• Ship­ping docu­men­ta­tion rela­ted to sam­ple deliveries
• Busi­ness let­ters or con­tracts featu­ring your logo in the header
• Pro­duct listings on Chi­ne­se e‑commerce platforms

Typi­cal­ly, a sin­gle pie­ce of evi­den­ce from the past three years is eno­ugh to dismiss a chal­len­ge to your tra­de­mark rights. Whi­le such dispu­tes are rare, it is impor­tant to be awa­re of this risk.

Free Trademark Analysis in China

Befo­re pro­ce­eding with regi­stra­tion, we con­duct a free indi­vi­du­al ana­ly­sis of your trademark’s sta­tus in Chi­na. This inc­lu­des chec­king whether:

• The tra­de­mark has alre­ady been mali­cio­usly regi­ste­red by ano­ther party
• Simi­lar-soun­ding tra­de­marks have been regi­ste­red in the same pro­duct categories

Based on our fin­dings, you will rece­ive a tailo­red stra­te­gy recom­men­da­tion to ensu­re opti­mal pro­tec­tion for your brand.

Trademark Registration Cost

• Basic regi­stra­tion fee for one class: 3,800 PLN
• The total cost, inc­lu­ding trans­la­tion servi­ces and addi­tio­nal class selec­tion, will be deter­mi­ned indi­vi­du­al­ly based on your spe­ci­fic needs.