51 questions on this page: Eligibility and representation · Procedure and timelines · Fees · Classes and goods items · Documents and notarization · Refusals, oppositions and enforcement · Madrid and international routes · Working with us. The answers come from verified content elsewhere on this site; the link at the end of each answer takes you to the original page for context. For statutory wording and official fees, the official documents prevail.
No. What you need is a Chinese agency—which is not the same thing. Article 18 of the Trademark Law requires foreign applicants to act through a lawfully established Chinese trademark agency, and the agency's address becomes the address of record for the file. You do not need a subsidiary, a wholly foreign-owned enterprise (WFOE), a distributor, or a Chinese address of your own.
Read more: How to register a trademark in China
No—not if your company has no habitual residence or place of business in China. Article 18 of the Trademark Law requires such applicants to go through a lawfully established Chinese trademark agency. Companies that already have a branch or representative office in China are exempt and may file on their own.
No. The distributor's place of business is theirs, not yours. A Delaware company selling into China through a distributor has no place of business in China and falls squarely within Article 18—it must file through a Chinese agency. One more thing worth knowing early: the distributor who starts calling your product by a certain name can just as easily register that name first. If it has already happened →
Read more: How foreign brands protect IP in China
No. The law only binds foreign parties that have no habitual residence or place of business in China. A foreign company with a branch or representative office in China may file on its own. Most guides skip that second half, and it is exactly what decides whether you need an agency at all.
Read more: How foreign brands protect IP in China
No. A foreign company can own a Chinese registered trademark directly. What you need is a Chinese agency to file the application—that is the requirement of Article 18, and it applies only if you have no habitual residence or place of business in China. These are two different things, and confusing them has led some applicants to set up a subsidiary they never needed.
Read more: Trademark registration · China
For a national filing the answer is unambiguous: yes—Article 18 of the Trademark Law. The Madrid route is more nuanced. Rather than repeat what everyone else says, we set out below, point by point, what we have verified and what we have not.
Read more: Madrid or a national filing?
The law gives the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) nine months from receipt of the application to complete examination (Article 28); after preliminary approval is published, there is a further three-month opposition period (Article 33). So even a smooth, unopposed application is very unlikely to be completed in under twelve months—yet the examination stage itself cannot lawfully exceed nine months. Most English-language sources give ranges like 8–12 or 12–18 months without saying where the numbers come from; those are recollections of practice, not the time limits the law actually sets.
Read more: How to register a trademark in China
No. The figure circulates so widely that it deserves a correction of its own. The current Trademark Law sets no separate statutory deadline for formality examination. Four months is simply a practitioner's rule of thumb. Any guide that presents it as a statutory deadline has not read the statute.
Read more: How to register a trademark in China
After registration is granted. The law makes registration impossible within roughly twelve months of filing: nine months of examination (Article 28) plus a three-month opposition period after publication (Article 33). From 1 January 2027 the opposition period shortens to two months (Article 36 of the new law), which brings the earliest possible registration date forward by about a month.
Read more: Trademark registration · China
Yes, and you should. China is a first-to-file jurisdiction: rights follow the register, not the market. The moment you manufacture here, negotiate with distributors here, or even just exhibit at a trade fair, your brand is already in the sights of people who squat on trademarks for a living.
Read more: How to register a trademark in China
Yes, within six months of your first filing in a Paris Convention member state. CNIPA charges no separate official fee for a trademark priority claim, but the priority documents must be complete and in order.
Read more: How to register a trademark in China
Renumbered articles and a shorter opposition window. For applicants, that means two things: file earlier and watch the publication period more closely. Our watch service flags similar applications on the day they are published.
Read more: Trademark registration · China
18 months. China has declared under Article 5(2)(b) and (c) of the Madrid Protocol that the time limit for notifying a refusal is 18 months, and that a refusal based on an opposition may be notified even after that period. Source: the China footnote and the members' declarations page of WIPO's list of Madrid Union members (status as of 2026-07-08).
CNY 270 per class for online filing (about USD 40 at the rate of 1 USD = 6.75 CNY checked on 2026-08-10), covering up to 10 goods or services items in that class; each item beyond 10 costs a further CNY 27. On paper the figures are CNY 300 and CNY 30. This schedule has applied since 2019-07-01 under notices 计价格〔1995〕2404号, 发改价格〔2015〕2136号, 财税〔2017〕20号 and 发改价格〔2019〕914号, as published by the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA). The official fee is legally denominated in CNY; the dollar figure is only a dated reference conversion. These are official fees only—the agency's service fee is separate and quoted case by case.
Read more: What CNIPA official fees really cost
No. The official fee is CNY 270 for online filing, priced in CNY—about USD 40 at the 2026-08-10 rate of 6.75, not USD 50. That $50 appears on several English-language China trademark sites, at least one of which has shown it since 2016. It is an old price converted at an old exchange rate. The problem is not the arithmetic—it is that a fee table nobody has updated in ten years tells you how the rest of that firm's services are looked after. If someone gives you a dollar figure for a Chinese official fee, ask which day's rate they used and what it was; if they can answer neither, the number is decoration.
Read more: What CNIPA official fees really cost
If you file online and accept electronic service of documents, the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) charges 90% of the standard fee. Both conditions must be met.
Read more: What CNIPA official fees really cost
The official fee for online filing is CNY 270 per class, covering 10 goods items, plus CNY 27 for each additional item—that is CNIPA's rate, set in CNY, and you can check it against the official source. Our own service fee is quoted in writing for each case before you engage us, and the first consultation is free. The two are always listed separately. Full official fee breakdown →
Read more: Trademark registration · China
From 2026-04-12, the individual fee is CHF 220 (Swiss francs) for the first class and CHF 110 for each additional class. These figures were lowered—from 249 and 125 respectively. If a source still quotes you CHF 249, its information predates April 2026. Exception: where the country of origin is, like China, bound by both the Agreement and the Protocol (Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and others), the individual fee does not apply under Article 9sexies(1)(b) of the Protocol and the standard Madrid fees are paid instead—see the section “What we have verified—and what we have not”.
Read more: Madrid or a national filing?
Official fees are in the table above, at the government rates. Our own fee is quoted in writing after we have seen the evidence—pricing a dispute without reading the file is guesswork, and we don't sell guesswork. The first assessment call is free.
Read more: Enforcement and disputes
Standard work follows a fixed-fee menu, with official fees and our fees listed separately. Matters with a variable scope are quoted, and the quotation spells out its assumptions and limits—there is no “extra” once work begins.
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As a starting point, yes; as the answer, no. Class numbers are the same worldwide—what China adds is the layer of similar groups beneath them, and that is where copied goods items quietly lose protection. Re-mapping at the similar-group level is exactly the step most foreign applications that run into trouble have skipped. How the mechanism works →
Read more: China's 45 trademark classes at a glance
Cover what you actually sell today first, then make one judgment about where the brand goes next. The economics are transparent: each class carries its own official fee—CNY 270 per class for online filing, covering ten goods items. Tell us what you sell and a class map comes free with our first reply. How to engage us →
Read more: China's 45 trademark classes at a glance
We do—that is the professional work itself. You describe the product in your own words; we map it to classes and similar groups and lay out what each choice covers and what it gives up. Filing the mark into the right similar groups is most of the job, which is why it is the first thing we do, not a patch applied afterwards.
Read more: China's 45 trademark classes at a glance
The Nice Classification, 13th Edition, 2026 text, in force since 2026-01-01. CNIPA's rule turns on the filing date: applications filed on or after 2026-01-01 are classified under the 2026 text; those filed earlier stay under the previous edition. So an application you file this week falls under the 13th edition, and any guide written around the 12th edition is describing a different document.
Read more: Similar groups: where foreign applications most often go wrong
CNIPA subdivides each of the 45 Nice classes into similar groups and adds goods names that reflect Chinese commercial practice, producing the Classification of Similar Goods and Services. The Nice Classification tells you which class you are in; the sub-class tells you which corner of that class you actually occupy.
Read more: Similar groups: where foreign applications most often go wrong
In practice, no—and this is the most expensive misconception foreign applicants bring to a Chinese filing. Examiners work from the Classification Table: goods in the same similar group are generally presumed similar, and goods in different similar groups are generally presumed not similar. Your registration takes effect only within the scope you designated, not across the whole class. Note that this is examination practice derived from the Classification Table, not a provision written into the Trademark Law.
Read more: Similar groups: where foreign applications most often go wrong
The CNY 270 official fee covers 10 items; each additional item costs CNY 27. Once you want to cover several similar groups in the same class, 10 is not many—this is the trade-off that has to be settled at filing, and it is why a cheap application can end up protecting almost nothing.
Read more: Similar groups: where foreign applications most often go wrong
Usually not, and a word-for-word translation does more harm than good. A list drafted to USPTO or EUIPO conventions does not map onto China's Classification Table, and filing non-standard wording through the national route invites office actions. The list has to be rebuilt item by item against the current Classification Table—real work, and the largest part of what you are paying your agency for.
Read more: Similar groups: where foreign applications most often go wrong
Usually yes—and ideally one you chose yourself, rather than one the market chose for you. Once Chinese consumers or your distributors start calling your brand by a particular name, that name has commercial value and someone else can register it first. Choosing it yourself, with an eye to both sound and meaning, is far cheaper than buying it back later. That is why we list “Chinese trademark naming and design” as a service in its own right.
Read more: Trademark registration · China
A routine application needs only: a plain copy of your certificate of incorporation, its Chinese translation, and a signed power of attorney (download it on the How to engage us page). That is all—no notarization, no legalization, no Apostille. Formalities only really enter the picture at the litigation stage. Why, and the sources →
Read more: Trademark registration · China
No. CNIPA's own published filing guidelines ask for a plain copy of your home-country registration certificate plus a Chinese translation, and a power of attorney stating the applicant's nationality. The guidelines do not ask for notarization, do not ask for consular legalization, and do not ask for an Apostille. Nothing to notarize, nothing to send to a ministry for authentication, no queue at a consulate.
Read more: Do you need an Apostille to register a trademark in China?
China did join, with effect from 2023-11-07, and the Convention is genuinely useful—for litigation. It changed nothing about trademark filing, because trademark filing never required consular legalization in the first place. If a firm is selling you the Apostille as a way to “simplify your filing documents”, it is solving a problem you never had.
Read more: Do you need an Apostille to register a trademark in China?
No. India objected to China's accession under Article 12 of the Convention, so the Convention does not operate between China and India. An Indian company that genuinely needs authenticated documents in China—for litigation, say—still has to go the consular legalization route. This is confirmed by HCCH (the Hague Conference on Private International Law), China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Beijing International Commercial Court, and it is almost impossible to find in English-language sources.
Read more: Do you need an Apostille to register a trademark in China?
Not directly, and this is where a lot of otherwise careful guidance falls down. A power of attorney is a private document, and an Apostille certifies a public one. So the power of attorney is notarized first, and the Apostille then certifies the notary's signature—what Article 1(d) of the Convention covers is precisely official certificates placed on documents signed in a private capacity. Guidance that says “apostille your power of attorney” is describing something that cannot happen. And in any case, a trademark application needs none of it.
Read more: Do you need an Apostille to register a trademark in China?
Essentially only litigation. A foreign party's proof of legal status before a Chinese court must be notarized and legalized—or go the treaty route, which is where the Apostille finally earns its keep. Trademark review proceedings sit in between: the formalities are conditionally triggered, not the default. A trademark application needs none of it.
Read more: Do you need an Apostille to register a trademark in China?
You have fifteen days from receipt of the refusal notice to apply for review (Article 34). The deadline is statutory, short, and runs from “receipt”—which, for a foreign applicant, means the moment your agency receives it. That is the weightiest practical reason to choose an agency that keeps a tight grip on docketing rather than one that files and forgets.
Read more: How to register a trademark in China
Often, yes—through invalidation, or through non-use cancellation once the other side has held the mark for three years without genuine use. Evidence decides the outcome: your prior use, their bad faith, their non-use. Before you write it off, and before you decide to buy the mark back, have the evidence assessed—buying it back is exactly what the squatter is counting on.
Read more: Enforcement and disputes
Three months from preliminary publication (Article 33)—but two months from 2027-01-01, when the 2026 revision takes effect (Article 36 of the new law). Either way it is a hard deadline. A trademark watch exists so that you find out inside the window rather than after it—and that window is about to shrink by a third.
Read more: Enforcement and disputes
A mark that has been registered for three years without genuine use can be canceled on request. Against a squatter this is often the cheapest route—squatters hoard marks and rarely run a real business, and the burden of proving use sits with the registrant, not with you.
Read more: Enforcement and disputes
They are different tools. Administrative action through the market regulation authorities is faster and cheaper, and it stops the infringing conduct—but it does not award you damages. A court is slower, but it gives you a judgment. For goods leaving the country, customs recordal is often more effective than either.
Read more: Enforcement and disputes
Once your rights are recorded with China Customs, Customs can detain suspected infringing goods before they leave the country. For brands manufactured in China this is often the step with the most leverage—and it is administrative protection, not litigation.
Read more: Enforcement and disputes
Ourselves. In 2023 the group set up its own law firm, Fujian Jingya Law Firm (福建精亚律师事务所), and the litigation record behind this page runs all the way to the Supreme People's Court. Filing and disputes are handled under one engagement—which is exactly where you want them when a dispute starts. Litigation record →
Read more: Enforcement and disputes
Both routes get you to China. Madrid may be cheaper up front; a national filing gives you a Chinese agency from day one—which pays off the moment a refusal or opposition arrives. And since 12 April 2026, WIPO's individual fee for designating China has also been lower than the old figure most guides still quote. The comparison, with numbers →
Read more: Trademark registration · China
It depends on two things: how many countries you want to designate, and how much control you want over your list of goods and services. For covering a basket of countries, the Madrid System is efficient. A Chinese national filing, by contrast, has its list drafted from day one against China's Classification of Similar Goods and Services—and because of the similar-group system, that matters far more in China than in most jurisdictions. If China is your main market rather than one of twenty boxes ticked on a list, that control is usually worth having.
Read more: Madrid or a national filing?
Yes. We handle overseas filings through the PCT and Paris Convention routes, working with partner firms in 150+ countries and regions—so the Chinese and foreign members of one patent family sit in one docket instead of falling between two firms.
Read more: Patent filing in China
Platforms sell filings; we deliver judgment. Class strategy, similarity analysis and office action responses all come from the lawyer handling your case, who signs by name and stays accountable to the end.
Read more: About us
Yes—and that is exactly who we serve most often. The first consultation is free: we go through your target markets and existing assets first, then discuss whether to act at all and what to do first.
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Yes. You deal directly with the named attorney handling your case, in English or Chinese—documents, calls and progress reports alike. The Chinese-language work is done behind that named contact, not in place of them.
Read more: How foreign brands protect IP in China
A standing international department, with filing, legal and trademark teams, led by a director who spent six years managing IP in-house at a listed manufacturer. The patent and trademark professionals you see on the team page do the substantive work behind them. Meet the team →
Read more: How foreign brands protect IP in China
Every inquiry gets an answer within 3 working days. We work on UTC+8—about twelve hours ahead of New York and six to seven ahead of Berlin—so an email sent before you leave the office usually lands in our inbox first thing in the morning.
Read more: How foreign brands protect IP in China
Yes—a free preliminary screen: we check for identical marks in the classes you care about and reply within 3 working days, at no charge. A full registrability search—covering similar marks across the relevant similar groups, with an opinion from an attorney—is a quoted service, priced openly in the table above.
Read more: Trademark registration · China
