Trademark protection in China: what European companies must know

Your brand may already be registered in China by someone else — without your knowledge, and without any wrongdoing under Chinese law. For European and French companies considering market entry in China, or already operating there, this is not a theoretical risk. It is a recurring reality that Valoris Avocats encounters regularly, and one that can be addressed — provided you act before someone else does.

What makes China’s trademark system fundamentally different

Most European businesses are accustomed to trademark systems that recognise prior use: your brand has value because you built it, used it, and can prove it. Under European Union law and French law, evidence of genuine commercial use can support your claim to a mark, even if it is not formally registered.

China operates on an entirely different principle: first to file wins.

Under the Chinese Trademark Law, administered by the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA), trademark rights belong to whoever files the application first — regardless of whether they created the brand, have ever used it, or have any legitimate connection to the goods or services in question.

This single distinction has significant practical consequences for any European company that has not yet registered its trademark in China.

The ‘first-to-file’ rule in practice

Suppose a French manufacturing company has been trading under its brand name for fifteen years across Europe. It begins exploring the Chinese market, makes contact with a local distributor — and discovers that its brand name was registered with the CNIPA three years earlier, by a party entirely unrelated to the business.

Under a first-to-file system, that third party may have a stronger legal claim to the mark in China than the original brand owner. Recovering the trademark then requires costly invalidation proceedings, with no guarantee of success.

This is not a loophole or an anomaly. It is the designed structure of the Chinese system — and professional trademark squatters have exploited it systematically for decades.

Trademark squatting in China: a persistent risk that is getting harder to address

Trademark squatting — registering a third party’s brand name in order to extract payment or block their market entry — has long been one of the most cited IP risks for foreign companies in China. The CNIPA and Chinese courts have made measurable efforts to combat bad faith registrations in recent years. However, the situation facing foreign rights holders is currently in flux.

Since early 2025, practitioners have observed a significant tightening of CNIPA’s approach to non-use cancellation proceedings — one of the primary tools brand owners use to cancel squatted marks. The evidentiary requirements have been raised considerably, placing a heavier burden on the legitimate rights holder seeking to reclaim a mark. What was previously a relatively accessible remedy has become more complex and costly to pursue.

In practical terms, this means that early registration is no longer just advisable — it is essential.

Who is at risk?

Any company with brand recognition, distinctive products, or plans to enter the Chinese market is a potential target. But smaller businesses are particularly vulnerable: professional squatters frequently monitor European trade press, export records, and exhibition registrations to identify brands that have not yet secured Chinese protection.

A Portuguese SME with no customers in China was contacted by a Chinese law firm alerting them to an active trademark squatting attempt — simply because their brand had appeared in a sectoral directory. Their situation is far from unique. The earlier a company becomes visible in any international context, the greater the exposure.

CNIPA vs INPI and EUIPO: key differences for European applicants

Understanding how the Chinese system compares to the frameworks European businesses know is essential for managing risk effectively.

A key point often overlooked by European applicants: an EU trademark registered at the EUIPO provides zero protection in China. The two systems are entirely independent. A company that has diligently protected its brand across Europe may have no rights whatsoever in China if it has not filed with the CNIPA.

Similarly, an international registration through the WIPO Madrid System only covers China if China has been expressly designated as a territory at the time of filing.

The Chinese name question: a separate registration entirely

Registering your brand name in its original Latin-script form with the CNIPA is a necessary first step — but it is rarely sufficient.

Chinese consumers, distributors, and partners will naturally create or adopt a Chinese-language version of your brand. This may take the form of:

• Transliteration — characters chosen for their phonetic resemblance to the original name
• Translation — characters selected for their meaning
• A hybrid — a creative adaptation combining both approaches

If you do not register a Chinese-character version of your brand, anyone else can. And they will. The risks include brand dilution, consumer confusion, and the loss of control over how your company or products are perceived in the most commercially dynamic market in the world.

A consistent Chinese name, proactively registered and legally secured, is an integral part of brand protection in China — not an optional add-on.

How to register a trademark in China: the essentials

For a European company filing with the CNIPA, the process typically unfolds as follows:

Step 1 — Preliminary search

Before filing, conduct a comprehensive search of the CNIPA trademark database to identify identical or similar existing marks, including in the relevant Nice Classification subclass. China’s subclass system is notably more granular than the European equivalent: two marks in the same international class may coexist if they fall into different subclasses. This makes the preliminary search both more complex and more important.

Step 2 — Appoint a local agent

Foreign applicants without a place of business in China are legally required to appoint a CNIPA-registered trademark agency. This is not optional. The appointed agency will handle filing, prosecution, and communication with the CNIPA on your behalf.

Step 3 — File the application

Applications can be submitted nationally through the CNIPA online system, or internationally by designating China under the WIPO Madrid System. The filing date is legally critical: it establishes your priority date in a first-to-file jurisdiction.

Step 4 — Formal examination and substantive review

The CNIPA conducts a formal examination of the application, followed by substantive review of distinctiveness, potential conflicts with existing marks, and compliance with Chinese Trademark Law. This process takes approximately nine months under current practice.

Step 5 — Publication and opposition

If the application passes examination, the mark is published for a three-month opposition period. Any third party may file an opposition during this window.

Step 6 — Registration

In the absence of opposition, the mark proceeds to registration. The certificate of registration is valid for ten years from the date of approval and is renewable.

From first filing to registration: allow a minimum of twelve to eighteen months for a smooth, uncontested application.

Enforcing your trademark in China: a dual-track system

Should infringement occur, Chinese law provides two primary enforcement routes that can be pursued in sequence or in parallel.

Administrative enforcement

The State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) and its local branches have broad powers to investigate trademark infringement, conduct raids, seize counterfeit goods, and impose fines. Administrative action is generally faster and less costly than litigation, and is particularly well-suited to clear-cut counterfeiting cases. It does not, however, result in damages for the rights holder.

In 2025, the SAMR investigated over 37,000 IP enforcement cases, an indication of the scale of the enforcement challenge — and of the system’s growing capacity to act on complaints from foreign rights holders.

Civil litigation

For more complex infringement cases, persistent violations, or situations where significant damages are sought, civil litigation before the Chinese courts is the appropriate route. Chinese IP courts, particularly in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, have become increasingly sophisticated in handling foreign rights holders’ claims.

Under Chinese Trademark Law, damages for infringement can reach RMB 5 million, with punitive damages of up to five times that amount in cases of deliberate, large-scale infringement.

E-commerce takedowns

For companies facing counterfeiting on major Chinese online platforms — Alibaba, Taobao, JD.com, Pinduoduo, WeChat — dedicated takedown mechanisms exist. These are separate from both administrative enforcement and civil litigation, and require a registered trademark in China to be actionable.

Trade secrets and know-how: a layer of protection beyond trademark

For technology companies, manufacturers, and businesses operating in innovation-intensive sectors, trademark protection is necessary but not exhaustive. Know-how, formulas, manufacturing processes, client lists, and commercial strategies can constitute trade secrets — and their protection follows a separate legal framework in both China and Europe.

China’s Trade Secret Law, significantly amended in 2019 and further developed through case law since, offers protection for confidential information that derives economic value from not being generally known, provided the holder has taken reasonable steps to maintain its secrecy. In practice, this means robust confidentiality agreements, clear information classification policies, and well-documented internal procedures.

For European companies operating in China through joint ventures, distribution agreements, or licensing arrangements, the interface between Chinese trade secret law and French or European law raises specific questions that require coordinated legal advice on both sides. This cross-border dimension — China and Europe — is precisely where Valoris Avocats has developed a distinctive practice.

What this means in practice: five actions for European companies

Whether your company is preparing to enter China, already active there, or has simply not yet addressed the question of Chinese trademark protection, here is where to focus:

• File early — before market entry, before supplier contact, before any public visibility in China. The cost of early registration is minimal compared to the cost of invalidation proceedings or forced rebranding.
• Register both your original-language trademark and a Chinese-character equivalent. Work with professionals who understand both the legal and cultural dimensions of Chinese name selection.
• Cover the right Nice Classification classes. China’s subclass system requires careful analysis. Broad class coverage, including defensive registrations in adjacent classes, reduces the risk of partial squatting.
• Monitor the market. Set up a systematic monitoring process to detect both squatting attempts and actual infringement, including on Chinese e-commerce platforms.
• Coordinate your Chinese and European IP strategies. Your trademark portfolio, licensing arrangements, and trade secret documentation should be coherent across jurisdictions. A dispute that begins in China can have consequences in France or Germany — and vice versa.

Valoris Avocats — IP Practice: China / Europe

Valoris Avocats advises European and French businesses on intellectual property matters at the intersection of China and Europe. Our team, led by Yuancun, brings deep familiarity with both the Chinese IP framework and the French and European legal environment — a combination that is genuinely rare in the French market.

Our IP practice covers:

• Trademark strategy and CNIPA filing coordination
• Chinese-name selection and registration
• Opposition and invalidation proceedings
• Trade secret protection across jurisdictions
• IP clauses in distribution agreements, JVs, and licensing contracts
• Coordination with SAMR enforcement and Chinese litigation counsel