Many foreign businesses are reluctant to register their brand
name into Chinese, assuming that the brand will be recognizable,
distinctive, and protected by one trademark filing. In reality, it
is critical to ensure that the trademark name is also registered in
Chinese.
To begin with, it is important to understand that if the
trademark is registered only in its original version i.e. Latin
characters and pronunciation, protection is not granted to its
Chinese equivalent. This means that virtually anybody can use the
same or similar trademark, and register it using a combination of
Chinese characters. In that scenario, the China Patent &
Trademark Office (CTMO) would then most likely prevent you from
registering your Chinese name later on. This is precisely what
happened to the well-known French fashion brand
Hermès who tried to register (a bit too late) its
trademark in Chinese as 爱玛仕 but was prevented
by the CTO from doing so as it was deemed similar to an
