Trade Marks Unit - Selecting a Chinese Trade Mark

(1) For anyone marketing their products or business in China, it is desirable to adopt a Chinese trade mark at an early stage. The majority of consumers in China will identify a company or product by its Chinese name and will go by Chinese character trade marks in making their purchasing decisions. It is therefore much better to develop one's own Chinese mark first.

(2) It is also important to bear in mind that the trade mark systems of territories such as China and Taiwan are based on a "first-to file" regime and therefore a third party may intentionally "pirate" or inadvertently file for an obvious Chinese version of the foreign mark. The owner of the foreign mark, when filing its own application, will find their application blocked. It is therefore important to file an application as soon as possible.