Search before you file—put similar marks, prior rights and refusal risk in front of the decision, instead of learning about them when the refusal notice arrives.
China follows the first-to-file principle: whoever files first comes first. That makes “file early” common sense, but it makes “look before you file” just as important—a refusal costs you not only the official fee but months in the queue, and during those months someone else may be filing.
Word marks and device marks are searched differently: a device mark needs a search of its figurative elements, which takes longer and relies more on judgment—whether two devices “look alike” is nothing like as clear-cut as comparing strings of letters.
| Item | Official fee | Our service fee |
|---|---|---|
| Trademark registrability searchper mark per classNo official fee—this is a pre-filing search, not a statutory CNIPA procedure | — | Quoted case by case |
| Registration application filed straight after the searchper mark per class, up to 10 items | CNY 270Paper filing CNY 300 | Quoted case by case |
The search itself has no official fee; the fee for the registration application that follows is shown above. Our service fee is quoted in writing for the scope of your case.
A search result is only meaningful within the similar groups you actually designate. Trademark protection in China does not cover a whole class; it attaches to similar groups—the single most common trap for foreign applicants, and the reason a search report has to be read together with your class strategy.
See Similar groups: the trap foreign applicants fall into most and 45 classes at a glance.
