For foreign brands entering China
If your company has no place of business in China, the law requires you to file through a local agency — and the things that trip up foreign brands are rarely the ones they worry about. Here is the map.
An applicant may handle a trademark registration application or other trademark matters on its own or through a lawfully established trademark agency. A foreigner or foreign enterprise applying for trademark registration or handling other trademark matters in China shall entrust a lawfully established trademark agency to handle the matter.
— Trademark Law, Article 18 · 《商标法》第十八条 — in force through 31 December 2026
Read with Article 5 of the Implementing Regulations, which defines "foreigner or foreign enterprise" as one with no habitual residence or place of business in China. A foreign company that has a branch or representative office here is not caught by this and may file on its own.
From 2027-01-01 this becomes Trademark Law (2026 Revision), Article 11(2) of the 2026 Revision, which writes the limitation into the statute itself and adds "other foreign organisation". The obligation is unchanged.
That is the starting point: a Chinese agency is not optional. Beyond it, a handful of things decide how a China filing actually goes for a foreign applicant.
Rights follow the register, not the market. If you have manufactured, exhibited or negotiated here, you have been visible — and someone may have filed your brand already. Getting it back runs through opposition, invalidation or non-use cancellation. Enforcement →
Chinese consumers and distributors will name your brand for you if you don't. That name has commercial value and can be registered by someone else. Choose it yourself — for sound and meaning — and file it. Trademark filing →
China subdivides every Nice class into similarity groups, applied mechanically. A registration only bites inside the subclasses you claimed — the single most common way foreign filings go wrong. Read the guide →
CNIPA's filing guide asks for a photocopy of your home registration, a Chinese translation and a signed power of attorney — not a notarised or apostilled one. China joined the Apostille Convention in 2023, and it changed nothing for filing. Read the guide →
Recording your rights with China Customs lets them detain suspected infringing exports before they leave the country — frequently the highest-leverage step for a brand manufactured in China, and it is not litigation. Enforcement →
Designating China through the Madrid System can be cheaper up front, but a national filing gives you a Chinese agent from day one — which matters when a refusal or opposition lands. We will tell you which fits. Read the guide →
No. A distributor's presence is theirs, not yours. A Delaware corporation selling into China through a distributor has no place of business here and is squarely inside Article 18 — it files through a Chinese agency. Worth knowing early: a distributor who starts using a name for your product can also register it. If that already happened →
No — the law only catches a foreign party with no habitual residence or place of business in China. A foreign company with a branch or rep office here may file on its own. Most guidance skips that half of the sentence; it decides whether you need an agency at all.
Yes. You work directly with the named attorney on your matter, in English or Chinese — documents, calls and reporting. The Chinese-language work happens behind that named contact, not instead of it.
A standing foreign-related department — its own groups for filing practice, legal work and trademarks, under a director who spent six years running IP inside listed manufacturers. The patent and trademark specialists you see on the People page do the substantive work behind them. The people →
Official fees are public — we publish CNIPA's schedule line by line so you can check every figure against the source. Our own fee is quoted per matter, in writing, before you engage us; nothing bundled, no hidden charges. The first consultation is free. How an engagement runs →
Every enquiry gets a reply within three working days. We work at UTC+8 — roughly twelve hours ahead of New York, six ahead of Berlin — so an email sent at the end of your day is usually in our morning inbox.
We will map the classes, the timeline and the risks — and put our own fee in writing before you commit.
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