Why Register Your Trademark in China First? The First-to-File Rule

How does trademark registration in China and the first-to-file rule work?

Trademark rights are territorial: your registration in Turkey protects you only in Turkey and does not automatically apply in China. In China, trademark rights are, as a rule, granted not to the first user but to the first applicant. This means that even if you have used your brand in Turkey for years, someone who files in China before you may obtain rights to that brand. Although there are exceptional protections for well-known marks, proving this route is difficult and burdensome. In practice the safest approach is to file your trademark in China before entering into a serious business relationship there.

In China, trademark applications are examined by the trademark office under the China National Intellectual Property Administration (国家知识产权局). An application goes through stages such as formal examination, substantive examination, publication and the opposition period. How long these stages take depends on the content of the application and the administration's current workload. What matters is that the filing date gives you priority: once your application is filed, later applications for the same or similar marks can be blocked to the extent that they conflict with yours. That is why “the earlier, the better” truly applies to trademark registration in China.

The risk of trademark squatting (商标抢注): who does it and why?

Trademark squatting means someone else registering a brand before its genuine owner files. Those who do it are often people who have come into contact with the brand in some way: a prospective distributor you have talked to, a trading company that visited your stand at a fair, the factory producing your goods, or people who simply track foreign brands and pre-register those with potential. The aim is usually to sell the trademark back to its genuine owner later, to take its place in the Chinese market or to gain bargaining power in distribution negotiations.

The problems caused by squatting can be serious. It may become difficult to open a store under your own brand on platforms such as Tmall Global or JD, problems may arise at customs when exporting goods made in China that bear your brand, or your Chinese distributor may strike a deal with another company. Legal routes such as opposition, invalidation or cancellation for non-use exist to recover a squatted trademark, but they take time and resources and the outcome is not guaranteed. Preventive registration is therefore always more effective and economical than fighting afterwards.

• Before attending a trade fair
• Before starting talks with a distributor or agent
• Before having a Chinese factory produce branded goods
• Before starting e-commerce or social media promotion

Why should a Chinese brand name be registered separately?

Chinese consumers, sellers and the media often refer to foreign brands by their Chinese names. If your brand has no official Chinese name, the market will create one spontaneously, and that name may sometimes carry negative or comic associations or be confused with another brand. More importantly, even if you have registered your Latin-letter brand, someone else may register your Chinese name and, using it, appear to consumers to be connected with you. A Chinese brand name should therefore be treated as an application separate from the Latin-letter mark.

There are three basic ways to create a good Chinese brand name: a reading close to the sound of the original name (phonetic transliteration), a name reflecting the brand's meaning or values (semantic translation), or a hybrid solution close to both sound and meaning. The most successful examples usually come from the hybrid approach. The chosen characters should carry positive meanings, should not turn into a negative sound in different dialects and should not clash with previously registered marks. At Yeni İpekyolu, our Chinese brand naming work combines linguistic analysis, cultural checks and prior searches.

Class and subclass selection: the most technical part of a China trademark

China uses the international Nice classification but applies its own subclass system (类似群) on top of it. In this system, goods and services within the same Nice class are divided into subgroups, and similarity examination is largely based on these subgroups. The practical consequence is that if you register your trademark only in the subgroup containing your main product, someone else may register a similar mark in another subgroup of the same class. The list of goods and services in the application therefore needs to be prepared carefully according to the Chinese system.

Describing goods and services in China using the wording of the standard list helps the examination proceed more predictably. Non-standard wording may result in refusal or a request for correction. In addition to the products you sell today, you should also consider categories you may expand into in the near future and areas where your brand is likely to be imitated. For example, a food brand might consider covering café and retail services as well as packaged products. Which classes and subgroups to choose should be decided with a specialist according to your business plan. A similarity search before filing will also show in which subgroups there is a risk of conflict.

Madrid system or a direct application in China?

Turkish brands can obtain protection in China by two routes. The first is designating China in an international application under the Madrid Protocol; this route simplifies management for brands seeking protection in several countries at once. The second is filing a national application directly in China. With a direct application, the list of goods and services can be prepared from the start according to China's subclass system and standard wording, which helps define the scope more precisely. For a sign not registered in Turkey, such as a Chinese brand name, a direct application is the natural choice anyway.

Which route is more suitable depends on your brand's status in Turkey, the number of target countries, the scope you need in China and your budget. For direct applications, foreign applicants generally act through a qualified trademark agent in China. Since filing fees and timelines depend on current regulations, the latest information should be confirmed before deciding. It is also worth remembering that Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan have separate trademark systems; a registration in mainland China does not cover these regions. When setting your filing strategy, it is therefore useful to think about which markets you want your brand to be in a few years from now.

Protecting your brand when manufacturing in China

Turkish companies manufacturing in China should register their brands not only to sell in the Chinese market but also to secure the production and export process. The factory producing goods under your brand knows your trademark and packaging design closely. If your brand is not registered in China, this knowledge could become a risk in the hands of a bad-faith party. Adding clauses on confidentiality, a ban on using the brand and not selling overruns to the manufacturing contract significantly increases your level of protection when combined with registration.

Once registration is complete, recording your trademark with Chinese customs (海关备案) is another layer of protection worth considering. This recordal can help draw customs' attention to goods bearing your mark without authorisation during export. Registering as the brand owner on e-commerce platforms also makes your requests to remove counterfeit listings easier. Registration is a starting point; regular monitoring, watching new filings and actually using your brand keep the protection alive in the long term. Archiving dated invoices, packaging samples, fair catalogue pages and e-commerce screenshots as evidence of use strengthens your hand against any cancellation request. If you license the brand to a distributor, how they may use it should also be governed by contract.

Roadmap for trademark registration in China and Yeni İpekyolu's support

The sequence we recommend for trademark registration in China is simple: first carry out a prior search in China for your Latin-letter mark and, if you have one, your logo; then determine classes and subgroups according to your business plan. In parallel, create your Chinese brand name and run a search for it too. File the applications as soon as possible and follow the process regularly. After registration, consider customs recordal, platform registrations and a monitoring service. These steps create a solid legal foundation for all your commercial activities in China.

At Yeni İpekyolu we support Turkish brands with trademark registration in China, Chinese brand naming and brand protection, together with our qualified partners in China. We define the scope of your application together according to your business plan, report on the process in Turkish and align it with the other steps of your China market entry strategy. Contact us to secure your brand before a fair, distributor meeting or production in China. We also help you monitor your brand's status in China regularly so that you spot similar applications early and start opposition proceedings in time when needed.