China Trademark Registration: Why Foreign Brands Must File First
China Trademark Registration: Why Foreign Brands Must File First
China is a first-to-file jurisdiction. If you sell on Tmall, Tmall Global, or anywhere else in the country, the brand that registers your name with CNIPA owns it — regardless of how long you have used it abroad. This guide covers why, how, and the mistakes that cost foreign brands control of their own name.
If you are a foreign brand thinking about selling in China — on Tmall, through cross-border e-commerce, or any other channel — there is one thing to do before anything else. Before you design your store, before you talk to logistics partners, before you plan your first campaign: register your trademark in China.
This sounds like routine legal housekeeping. It is not. For many foreign brands, trademark registration in China is one of the highest-stakes decisions of the entire market entry, and getting it wrong or getting it late can derail the whole project.
The reason is simple. China operates a first-to-file trademark system. In most jurisdictions foreign brands are used to — the EU, the US, the UK, Australia — prior use in commerce gives you some legal protection. If you have been selling under a name, someone cannot simply walk into the trademark office and claim it.
China does not work that way. In China, whoever files first generally owns the trademark. It does not matter who created the brand. It does not matter who has been selling under that name for fifty years. It does not matter how well known you are internationally. If someone else files your brand name at the China trademark office before you do, they own it.
Key takeaway: Your international reputation, your decades of brand history, and your existing trademarks in other countries do not protect you in China until you file with CNIPA — the China National Intellectual Property Administration.
There is an entire industry built around this vulnerability. Trademark squatters — both individuals and companies — actively monitor successful foreign brands and file their trademarks in China before the brands get around to it.
Once a squatter has the registration, they have options:
- Demand payment to transfer the trademark to you. The price is whatever they think you will pay.
- Demand ongoing licensing fees — essentially making you pay to use your own name.
- Refuse to sell at all, blocking your China expansion entirely.
- Manufacture and sell products under your brand name, fully legally from a Chinese IP perspective.
We have dealt with this many times. Foreign brands come to us ready to enter China, and during the preparation process we discover that someone else already owns their trademark. The outcomes are never pleasant. Some brands end up paying significant amounts to buy back their own name. Others find that the squatter will not sell and instead demands ongoing payments to license the trademark back. In the worst cases, the squatter is already manufacturing products under the brand name and selling them to Chinese consumers who have no idea they are not buying the real thing.
The damage goes beyond lost revenue. It is reputational. Consumers associate poor-quality counterfeit products with your brand. And untangling these situations through legal challenges, negotiation, or cancellation proceedings takes years and significant money, with no guaranteed outcome.
The asymmetry is brutal. Filing a Chinese trademark costs a few thousand dollars and a few months of attention. Recovering one from a squatter costs years, lawyer fees, and often a settlement payment many times the original filing cost.
The trademark requirements for selling on Tmall differ depending on which type of store you open. There are two: cross-border (Tmall Global) and domestic (Tmall).
Cross-Border (Tmall Global)
Lower bar to entry- Valid trademark in your home country accepted
- EU, US, UK registration is sufficient
- Chinese trademark not technically required
- Faster path to launch
- But you remain exposed to squatters
Domestic (Tmall)
Hard requirement- Must have registered Chinese trademark
- Must be filed with CNIPA
- No workarounds, no exceptions
- Without it, no domestic store, period
- Also blocks long-term China strategy
Here is where brands make a critical error. They launch cross-border, notice that a Chinese trademark is not technically required, and put the registration on the back burner. Meanwhile, their brand starts gaining visibility in China through marketing, influencer campaigns, and social media. A squatter notices, files the trademark, and suddenly the brand has lost the option to ever go domestic — and lost control of its own name in the Chinese market entirely.
The lesson: If you are going to start cross-border, register your trademark in China immediately. The cross-border phase is exactly when your brand is becoming visible enough for squatters to notice. Do not treat "not technically required" as "not urgent."
The registration process itself is manageable. It takes time, but it is not complicated if you approach it correctly. You file the application either directly with CNIPA or through the Madrid Protocol via WIPO. Here is the typical timeline:
China Trademark Registration Timeline
CNIPATotal timeline is roughly 8 to 12 months from filing to certificate. Practical protection, however, begins at the acceptance stage — around one to two months in. While the full process takes the better part of a year, the window of vulnerability is relatively short once the application is filed.
Filing path: CNIPA direct vs. Madrid Protocol
We generally recommend filing directly through CNIPA for brands focused on China. It is faster and cheaper than the Madrid Protocol route. You will need a Chinese agent to file on your behalf, but the process is well-established.
The Madrid Protocol via WIPO makes more sense if you are registering in many countries simultaneously and want a single application to cover them all. But for China specifically, direct filing is the more efficient path.
This is where we have to be very direct. There is one mistake we see that is entirely preventable and absolutely devastating when it happens: foreign brands let someone else register their trademark on their behalf — a distributor, an agency, a local partner — and that entity registers it under their own name instead of the brand's.
Sometimes it is framed as helpful: "We'll handle the registration for you — it's simpler this way." Sometimes it is presented as necessary: "You need a local entity, so we'll register it under ours." Regardless of the framing, the result is identical. Someone else owns your brand in China. And when that business relationship changes — when you want to switch partners, when there is a disagreement, when the partner's priorities shift — they hold all the cards.
The rule is simple. Your company must be the registered owner of the trademark. Not a distributor. Not a partner. Not an agency. Your company name on the certificate. You control the renewals. It is your asset.
If a partner pushes back on this — if they argue they need to be the registered owner, or that it is somehow easier or required to register under their entity — treat that as the warning sign it is. There is no legitimate reason a third party needs to own your trademark. A Chinese trademark agent files on behalf of foreign companies all the time. The applicant on the certificate should always be the brand owner.
Two more things are worth addressing on trademark strategy.
Register in every class that matters
Chinese trademarks, like trademarks in other jurisdictions, are registered by product class. Do not register only in the class you are currently selling in. Register in every class where you sell or might plausibly expand. The incremental cost is small. The cost of discovering a squatter has registered your brand in a class you overlooked is not.
This matters especially for brands with cross-category potential — a skincare brand that may move into supplements, a beverage brand that may move into snacks, a fashion brand that may move into accessories or homeware. Each category sits in a different class, and each class needs its own registration.
Register a Chinese-language version of your brand
If your brand becomes known in China and you have not registered a Chinese-language version, one of two things happens. Either consumers create their own informal Chinese name for your brand — which you do not control and may not even know about — or a squatter registers an obvious Chinese translation before you do.
A Chinese-language trademark gives you control over how your brand is represented in Mandarin, prevents others from claiming a Chinese version, and gives you flexibility in marketing and consumer communication. For most foreign brands serious about China, registering both the Latin-character mark and a Chinese-character mark is the right move.
Two marks, multiple classes. The strongest defensive position is registering both your Latin-character name and a chosen Chinese-character name (transliteration or meaningful translation), in every product class relevant to your business and adjacent expansion paths.
If you check and discover that someone else already owns your trademark in China, your options depend on the situation. None of them are fast and none are cheap.
Challenge a bad-faith registration
If the registration was filed in bad faith — a squatter with no legitimate business use — you can challenge it through opposition or cancellation proceedings. This is possible but slow. It typically takes two to three years, requires evidence of bad faith, and the outcome is not guaranteed.
Negotiate a purchase or transfer
If the holder is willing to sell, you can negotiate a purchase. The transfer itself takes about a month once terms are agreed, but the purchase price varies enormously depending on the other party's leverage. Squatters who have done this before know exactly what they can extract.
Rebrand for the Chinese market
If the holder will not sell and legal action is not viable, the remaining option is to rebrand for China. This is expensive, often impractical, and sacrifices the brand equity you would have built under your real name.
Accept limited operations
In some cases, brands accept that they can only operate cross-border, never go domestic, and live with ongoing exposure. This is rarely a strategic position anyone would choose deliberately — it is the residue of a problem that was not prevented.
All of which reinforces the core message of this guide. Prevention is vastly cheaper and more reliable than any remedy after the fact. Filing a Chinese trademark before someone else does is the single highest-ROI action you can take in your China entry.
At Shanghai Jungle, trademark registration is one of the first things we handle for foreign brands entering China. We file directly through CNIPA — faster and cheaper than the Madrid route — and the registration is always in the brand's own company name.
Direct CNIPA Filing
We file directly with the China National Intellectual Property Administration. Faster and lower-cost than routing through WIPO, with the same legal protection.
Registered in Your Name
The trademark is registered to your company. We act as the agent, not the owner. You hold the certificate, control renewals, and keep the asset.
Class Strategy Included
We map your current and likely-future product range to the right product classes, so you are not exposed in adjacent categories you might move into later.
Chinese-Language Marks
Where it makes sense, we help select and register a Chinese-character version of your brand alongside the Latin-character mark for full coverage.
If you are thinking about China — even just preliminarily, even just cross-border — this is where to start. Every day you wait is a day someone else could file first.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is China's trademark system so different from the EU or US?
China is a first-to-file jurisdiction, which means the trademark office grants rights to whoever files an application first, regardless of prior use. Most Western jurisdictions, including the EU, the US, the UK, and Australia, recognize prior use as a defense even without registration. In China, prior use abroad gives you almost no protection until you file with CNIPA.
Do I need a Chinese trademark to sell on Tmall Global (cross-border)?
Not technically. Tmall Global accepts a valid trademark from your home country — an EU registration, a US registration, or equivalent. However, selling cross-border without a Chinese trademark leaves you exposed to squatters, and it blocks any future move to a domestic Tmall store, which does require a CNIPA-registered trademark. We recommend filing in China as soon as you decide to enter the market, even if you start cross-border.
How long does it take to register a trademark in China?
The full process from filing to certificate takes roughly 8 to 12 months. Practical protection begins much earlier — at the preliminary examination stage, around one to two months after filing. Once your application is accepted, no one else can register the same mark.
Should I file directly with CNIPA or through the Madrid Protocol?
For brands focused specifically on China, we recommend filing directly with CNIPA through a Chinese trademark agent. It is faster and cheaper than the Madrid Protocol route. The Madrid Protocol makes more sense when you are registering in many countries simultaneously, but for a China-only filing, direct is the more efficient path.
Why does it matter who owns the trademark — me or my distributor?
Whoever is listed as the registered owner on the certificate legally controls the trademark. If your distributor, agency, or partner registers your trademark under their own entity, they own your brand in China. When the relationship ends or changes, they hold all the leverage — they can demand payment, refuse to transfer, or continue using the name. The applicant on every trademark filing must be your own company.
What classes should I register my trademark in?
Register in every class where you currently sell or might plausibly expand. Chinese trademarks are class-specific, so registration in Class 3 (cosmetics) does not protect you in Class 5 (pharmaceuticals) or Class 25 (apparel). The incremental cost of additional classes is small relative to the cost of discovering a squatter has registered your brand in a class you skipped.
What can I do if a squatter already owns my trademark?
Options include opposition or cancellation proceedings (slow, 2–3 years, uncertain outcome), negotiated purchase from the squatter (fast once agreed, but price depends on their leverage), or rebranding for the Chinese market (expensive and brand-equity destroying). None of these compare to the cost of prevention, which is why filing early matters so much.
File Your China Trademark Before Someone Else Does
Shanghai Jungle is a Tmall Partner with locations in Shanghai, Copenhagen, and Stuttgart. We handle trademark registration directly through CNIPA for foreign brands entering China.
- Direct CNIPA filing — registered in your company's name
- Class strategy that covers current and future product lines
- Latin-character and Chinese-character marks where relevant
