CHINA PATENT & TRADEMARK LAW OFFICE
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    • Why do you need to register a trademark in China
    • What do you need to do to register a Chinese trademark
    • The Difference Between Copyright, Trademark and Patent
    • How And Why To Trademark In China
    • How do I protect myself from Intellectual Property Theft in China
    • How To Protect Your Intellectual Propery (IP) Rights In China
    • 7 Steps to Protect Your Intellectual Property in China
    • China is strengthening intellectual property protection
    • What should a foreign business know about filing a trademark in China
    • A Guide to the Chinese Trademark Registration Process
    • Why you should file your trademark in China now
    • Why is a Trademark Watch Important
    • Differences Between Trademark and Copyright
    • Avoiding IP Infringement with Chinese Sourcing
    • Cracking down trademark squatters under amended trademark law in China
    • How China is acting to combat bad faith trademarks
    • Intellectual Property protection when doing business in China
    • China's intellectual property rights protection improved to create a sound business environment
    • China’s race to become global intellectual property leader
    • China strengthens intellectual property rights protection prior to Beijing 2022
    • Important Trademark Development from China for 2022: What US Brand Owners Need to Know
    • How to Protect Trademarks in China
    • A simple guide to intellectual property in China
    • An Overview of the Latest Amendment to the Chinese Patent Law
    • What We Do When Trademark Squatters Get Smarter in China
    • The most important patent and IP business developments in China in 2021
    • A simple guide to trademark registration in China
    • Protecting your intellectual property in China
    • How To Enforce Intellectual Property Rights In China
    • What China’s new patent laws mean for life sciences
    • China extends lead over U.S. in global patents filings, U.N. says
    • What Do China’s High Patent Numbers Really Mean
    • How to Protect Your Intellectual Property Rights in China
    • Protecting your intellectual property in China
    • Procedure of filing trademark in China
    • The Importance of Having a Chinese Brand Name
    • Why Does Hong Kong Attract International Businesses
    • What’s the Difference Between Patents, Copyrights and Trademarks
    • How to initiate a trademark infringement civil proceedings in China
    • How to Brand your products for the Huge China Market and Reduce Your Risk
    • 8 Trademark Mistakes Your Start-Up Must Avoid
    • What’s the Difference Between OEM and ODM Products
    • What the amendment to Article 4 of the Chinese Trademark Law means for bad-faith trademark filings
    • China starts rebuff of various metaverse trademark applications amid rush to hype the internet’s next generation
    • China, US and Hong Kong trademarks – A quick guide
    • Working with Chinese Trademark Agencies – A Dangerous Game, or Delicate Tightrope
    • China will improve its IP system
    • 12 Intellectual property Protection Tip
    • How to protect your brand in China
    • China Trademark And Brand Development Index 2021: Which Are China's Top Provinces
    • Must I Register My Company Name as a Trademark in China?
    • What You Need to Know About China Trademark Registration as a Foreigner
    • How to File a Trademark in China
    • How to Register a Patent in China
    • How to effectively deal with the preemptive registered trademark in China
    • China’s Trademark Regime: How to Protect Your Brand in the Mainland
    • China Issues Stricter Rules on Trademark Use
    • News
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General information about trademark application in China

  • “First-to-File” System: Whoever files a trademark application first, gets the eventual registration.
  • No evidence of use is required to get a registration.
  • Member of Paris Convention so it’s possible to claim priority if filing within 6 months from the initial date of the applicant’s home country.
  • Foreign applicants must employ Chinese local agents to file their trademark in China.
  • One year from filing the application to getting registration certificate: 9 months of examination, and then 3 months of publication period for opposition.
  • Duration of protection: 10 years and renewable.
  • The trademark is vulnerable to be cancelled by any third party if there is no use for consecutive three years from the date of registration.
Classification of Goods and Services

China adopts 11th Edition of Nice Classification. There are 45 classes of goods and services.

China uses a guide of similar goods/services. In this guide, each class is divided into several sub-classes, and generally, goods/services are dissimilar in different sub-classes, unless there is especial illustration.

According to Chinese examination criteria, the designated goods/services of a trademark application should be selected from the standard descriptions listed in the Guide Book. Non-standard descriptions may lead to Non-Acceptance of the application.
​
It is necessary to cover broad sub-classes in order to protect the trademark as broadly as possible.
General procedure of a trademark registration

1) Filing the trademark application
2) 9 months for examination by the China Trademark Office
3) 3 months of publication period for opposition
4) 1-2 months for obtaining registration certificate

General procedure of trademark registration – see diagram below
Picture
Required information and documents

  • Duly signed Power of Attorney
  • Specimen of trademark
  • Full name and address of the applicant, Chinese version is necessary (will be provided by us)
  • For business applicants, the business license or good standing document or similar type of documents to show the existence status
  • For individual person applicants, a copy of passport or driver’s license
  • Designated goods/services
  • Original copy of priority document if claiming convention priority


​OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) business may file a trademark in China

  • OEM use of a brand is controversial to be regarded as a trademark use and possible infringement risk exists.
  • China is a first to file country. It is quite common that a third party (sometimes your manufacturer) files your trademarks in bad faith in China and then claims infringement over your unregistered brands.
  • It is very time consuming and costly to respond to infringement claim. It may happen that the fraudulent party may agree to assign the trademark to the true owners with some compensation or may not.
  • The conclusion: a foreign trademark is not protected in China automatically. And filing a trademark timely is essential to minimize the risk of trademark piracy and the costs of getting the trademark back from the unauthorized registrant.

​Other tips for filing trademark application in China

  • Filing trademarks as soon as possible.
  • Clearance search is recommended before filing.
  • It could help to find out if there are any conflicting trademarks and evaluate the chances of achieving registration. Meanwhile, actions such as non-use cancellation and trademark purchase could be started at the early stage, to clear potential obstacles.
  • Chinese version of the brand is suggested to be filed.
Please contact ​​Hermax Intellectual Property if you have any questions about filing in China.
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  • Home
  • About
  • IP Services
    • Trademark
    • Patent
    • Utility Model
    • Design
    • Copyright
  • Translation
  • News
    • Why do you need to register a trademark in China
    • What do you need to do to register a Chinese trademark
    • The Difference Between Copyright, Trademark and Patent
    • How And Why To Trademark In China
    • How do I protect myself from Intellectual Property Theft in China
    • How To Protect Your Intellectual Propery (IP) Rights In China
    • 7 Steps to Protect Your Intellectual Property in China
    • China is strengthening intellectual property protection
    • What should a foreign business know about filing a trademark in China
    • A Guide to the Chinese Trademark Registration Process
    • Why you should file your trademark in China now
    • Why is a Trademark Watch Important
    • Differences Between Trademark and Copyright
    • Avoiding IP Infringement with Chinese Sourcing
    • Cracking down trademark squatters under amended trademark law in China
    • How China is acting to combat bad faith trademarks
    • Intellectual Property protection when doing business in China
    • China's intellectual property rights protection improved to create a sound business environment
    • China’s race to become global intellectual property leader
    • China strengthens intellectual property rights protection prior to Beijing 2022
    • Important Trademark Development from China for 2022: What US Brand Owners Need to Know
    • How to Protect Trademarks in China
    • A simple guide to intellectual property in China
    • An Overview of the Latest Amendment to the Chinese Patent Law
    • What We Do When Trademark Squatters Get Smarter in China
    • The most important patent and IP business developments in China in 2021
    • A simple guide to trademark registration in China
    • Protecting your intellectual property in China
    • How To Enforce Intellectual Property Rights In China
    • What China’s new patent laws mean for life sciences
    • China extends lead over U.S. in global patents filings, U.N. says
    • What Do China’s High Patent Numbers Really Mean
    • How to Protect Your Intellectual Property Rights in China
    • Protecting your intellectual property in China
    • Procedure of filing trademark in China
    • The Importance of Having a Chinese Brand Name
    • Why Does Hong Kong Attract International Businesses
    • What’s the Difference Between Patents, Copyrights and Trademarks
    • How to initiate a trademark infringement civil proceedings in China
    • How to Brand your products for the Huge China Market and Reduce Your Risk
    • 8 Trademark Mistakes Your Start-Up Must Avoid
    • What’s the Difference Between OEM and ODM Products
    • What the amendment to Article 4 of the Chinese Trademark Law means for bad-faith trademark filings
    • China starts rebuff of various metaverse trademark applications amid rush to hype the internet’s next generation
    • China, US and Hong Kong trademarks – A quick guide
    • Working with Chinese Trademark Agencies – A Dangerous Game, or Delicate Tightrope
    • China will improve its IP system
    • 12 Intellectual property Protection Tip
    • How to protect your brand in China
    • China Trademark And Brand Development Index 2021: Which Are China's Top Provinces
    • Must I Register My Company Name as a Trademark in China?
    • What You Need to Know About China Trademark Registration as a Foreigner
    • How to File a Trademark in China
    • How to Register a Patent in China
    • How to effectively deal with the preemptive registered trademark in China
    • China’s Trademark Regime: How to Protect Your Brand in the Mainland
    • China Issues Stricter Rules on Trademark Use
    • News
    • News
  • Contact