In 2025, China had the highest trade mark filing activity in the world accounting for 45% of all trade marks filed globally, and so brand owners are often coming up against intellectual property and trade mark challenges when expanding into China. This article aims to demystify Chinese trade mark practice, by providing practical considerations.

Global brands which own their marks within English speaking markets, often seek to protect the trade mark at the various Intellectual Property Offices in English. However, brand owners should be aware that in China, transliteration and translation marks can be filed in Mandarin, which can potentially allow for confusingly similar trade marks entering the Chinese trade mark register by unrelated third parties or even trade mark squatters. When expanding a brand (including manufacturing in China), it is useful to also develop a brand in the local market, particularly in China because the Chinese consumer will typically refer to a global brand name in the local language being Mandarin.

Unfortunately, it has become common for third parties to file “bad faith” trade mark applications, and this is something brand owners often navigate when prosecuting and enforcing their trade marks in China. Bad faith filings are made when an applicant has no legitimate interest in the mark or a genuine interest to use the mark in commerce. This can sometimes disrupt trade mark filing strategies and halt protection in China for genuine brand owners, which raises the risk of brand dilution. In more recent years, Chinese trade mark practice has evolved to prohibit bad faith filings. This means that applications can be rejected by the Chinese trade mark office, along with the provision of seeking cancellation of registrations which have filed in bad faith.

It is important to consider trade mark filing strategies at brand conception, because China operates a first to file system, which means the first applicant to file a trade mark application in China becomes the trade mark owner, irrespective of other unregistered earlier use of the mark in China. It is possible to oppose an application or cancel a registration, although this often requires substantial evidence of use and can lead to costly legal proceedings which could easily be avoided if an earlier application is filed in China by the original brand owner.
The main pre-filing considerations are clearance searches, which ensure the trade mark register is clear of any legal and or commercial risks. When devising a trade mark filing strategy, the brand owner should look at where it is based geographically, along with where they want expansion of the mark to extend to. When it comes to China, there are two ways to seek trade mark protection.

The first filing route is to file a trade mark application directly at the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA). Applications made at a national level require careful drafting of the goods and services that the application seeks to protect. Chinese trade mark practice is unique in that although it follows the universally recognised Nice Classification of goods and services, it allows for the protection of a sub-class set of goods and services, which means the applicant should seek to be precise in the scope of trade mark protection. The pitfall of this practice procedure is that, if a third party files an application for a different subset of goods and or services falling within the same class, a registration would afford limited protection even where commercially the marks may potentially overlap. In practice, brand owners need to protect their core goods and services, and also take a defensive position by seeking to protect adjacent subclass goods and services. This has  the aim of avoiding bad faith filings, as these filings could risk diluting the brand.

The second filing route is to take advantage of the Madrid Protocol, which provides a mechanism to file applications at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Applications made at WIPO are known as International Registrations (IRs). IRs are based on national filings made in a member country of the Madrid Protocol, and so typically, if a business is based in the UK, it will file an application at the UK Intellectual Property Office first, and use the UK filing as a base to springboard towards an IR. International applications are made at WIPO referencing the base mark and claiming designations in countries party to the Madrid Protocol. The filing details mirror those which are covered in the base filing, which means there is no requirement to file a subset of goods and or services at the outset. WIPO will inform the CNIPA of the Chinese designation in the IR, and the application is forwarded for examination. It is at the examination stage when the applicant would respond to specification queries to further specify the subset of goods and services the application seeks to protect. There are some risks associated with seeking trade mark protection via the International route, which are assessed on a case by case basis.

Once a registration is secured via either filing route, it is useful for brand owners to document its Chinese market presence by collating periodical evidence of use of the mark for the goods and or services protected. Evidence of use must be commercial use, which is visible to customers in China, and it can include: sales contracts, invoices, advertisements, advertisement spend, and product packaging. Having this information readily available would serve useful if defending potential non-use cancellation actions. Chinese registrations become potentially vulnerable to non-use cancellation if the mark is not used for three consecutive years from the registration date (which contrasts with five years in other territories such as the UK). Owners of registrations should monitor and ensure the mark is in use for the goods and or services registered so as not to become vulnerable to non-use, and potentially allow third parties to remove the registration from the register. Removal of trade marks from the register can ultimately lead to the brand owner not having registered rights in China. If a brand owner finds itself defending a non-use cancellation action, it should be able to demonstrate substantial evidence of use. If a brand owner is unable to secure trade mark of a device mark in China, they may look towards securing registered copyright to demonstrate ownership of an artistic work.

As part of continuing brand enforcement in China, brand owners should periodically audit its trade mark and wider IP portfolio to identify any gaps in protection, which may arise from the growth and expansion of the business into new business areas and geographical regions. Post registration considerations include monitoring the trade mark register for third party filings which are either identical or similar to a brand, along with monitoring domains and company names to identify whether web take down proceedings are necessary. Brand owners are increasingly registering its trade marks with the Chinese customs office to monitor the physical movement of potentially counterfeit goods which gives brand owners the control and the opportunity to prevent such activity.

All brand owners should continue to monitor its IP and consider when IP protection in China may be necessary. Stay tuned for more from our series of insights as we count down to INTA 2026. For questions on global trade mark strategy, China filing considerations, or to arrange a meeting at INTA, contact Nicholas Buckland to learn more about Lewis Silkin's IP China desk.