The first thing a (foreign) company should do before
even considering winning the affection of 1.3 billion potential
Chinese consumers is making sure that you own or apply for the
trademark right to use your name and brand in China.
In our practice, we have seen too much money wasted on buying
such rights from people or companies who outsmarted the 'new
kids on the block', often by maliciously registering
'their' trademarks.
Forgetting to register their brand is probably the most common
mistake made by international companies entering the Chinese
market. Ten years ago, this issue already caused big MNCs launching
consumer products in China plenty of headaches. Newcomers seem not
to have learned much from their predecessors seeing that the latest
wave of foreign companies to entering China still often forget to
register their names and brands – after which they turn to us
to resolve this critical issue.
