If you come from a jurisdiction where rights come from use, “we used it first” sounds the same as “it's ours.” China's register does not see it that way. This article sets out the real routes to getting a mark back—and why the answer is usually evidence, not outrage.
In use-based systems such as the United States, rights come from use in commerce. In China, rights come from registration—use gives you only visibility. If you have ever manufactured in China, exhibited there or talked to a distributor, you became visible far earlier than you think; and there are people who watch the foreign trade press specifically to file for brands that have not yet entered China. By the time you notice, the register already shows an owner of record—it just isn't you.
Which door is open depends on where the mark stands. Published but not yet registered—file an opposition: a hard window of three months from publication, shortened to two months from 2027-01-01 (covered in an earlier article). Registered—apply for invalidation: this is the main road back, and it turns on the other side's bad faith and your record of prior use. Registered for three years and unused—non-use cancellation is often the cheapest move on the board: the burden of proof sits with the registrant, and hoarders usually cannot produce evidence of genuine use.
Cases like this are decided by three stacks of paper. Yours: a record of prior use connected with China—orders, trade-show materials, correspondence with distributors, customs declarations and contract-manufacturing records, all dated, and the duller the better. The other side's first stack: a pattern of conduct—a trademark portfolio full of other people's brands, applications filed in batches, an offer to sell; an asking price says exactly what the registration was for. The other side's second stack: a blank—no products, no invoices, no genuine business under the mark. Assemble all three before you conclude it is hopeless and before you open negotiations—because the thickness of that file is your leverage at the table.
Sometimes a negotiated assignment really is the rational exit—the fastest certainty, at a known price. But walk in without a case assessment and you pay the squatter's asking price, and fund his next batch of applications. The order that protects you is: evidence first, then an assessment of your odds, and then—if the numbers still favor a deal—negotiate with the invalidation file sitting plainly on the table.
One application filed before you become “visible” makes this entire article irrelevant to you—and register the Chinese-character mark while you are at it, or the market will name you itself. Once registered, watch the gazette: with the opposition window about to shrink to two months, monitoring is the difference between holding cards and reading the news. If it has already happened, start here →
This article is general information, not legal advice on any specific case. Author: Huang Guowen, Director of the International Department; the content has been checked against the primary source linked above.
