Rights go to the first applicant, with only narrow exceptions for prior use.
3 months from publication of a conflicting application.
Before any product launch, exhibition, distributor talks, or manufacturing in China.
A Chinese-character version of your mark, and the right subclasses.
Send us the mark, the market, and any deadline. We will route it to the right practice lead within one business day.
Contact UsMost common-law countries give weight to who used a trademark first. China does not. Under Chinese trademark law, the exclusive right belongs to whoever files the application first. Years of genuine use abroad, international fame, and even sales into China through distributors generally do not create a registered right.
The practical consequence is simple and unforgiving: if someone else files your brand name in China before you do, they own it there until you take it back through legal proceedings — a process that can take years and cost far more than an early filing would have.
The typical scenarios we see are not exotic. A manufacturer or distributor files your mark “to protect the cooperation.” A former employee or business contact files it after seeing your expansion plans. A professional squatter monitors overseas trademark gazettes, e-commerce listings, and crowdfunding sites, then files promising foreign marks in bulk.
By the time the brand owner notices — usually when a platform listing is blocked, a shipment is stopped, or their own application is refused — the squatted registration has often matured and the cheap procedural windows have closed.
China uses the international Nice classification, but examines conflicts at the level of official subclasses within each class. Two marks in the same class but different subclasses are often treated as non-conflicting — which means a competitor can register your identical mark in a neighbouring subclass you left uncovered.
A filing strategy designed for the US or EU, copied one-to-one into China, routinely leaves these gaps. Coverage should be planned subclass by subclass around your actual products, your supply chain, and the merchandise categories squatters most often target.
Chinese law does offer limited defenses: a prior user whose mark already had “certain influence” in China may continue use within its original scope, and bad-faith registrations can be opposed or invalidated. But these are remedies you argue about in proceedings, with evidence requirements that are hard to meet for brands that never formally entered China.
Treat prior-use protection as a safety net with holes, not as a strategy.
First, clear and file your core word mark and logo in China before any public step — including OEM manufacturing, trade shows, and distributor negotiations. Second, adopt and file a Chinese-character name at the same time; if you do not choose one, the market or a squatter will choose it for you. Third, cover the subclasses of your core goods plus realistic expansion and merchandising categories. Fourth, set up watch services so new conflicting applications surface inside the three-month opposition window, when stopping them is cheapest.
This article is general information about Chinese IP practice, not legal advice for a specific matter. Rules, fees, and timelines change; confirm current requirements before acting. For advice on your situation, contact our team.