Why register your trademark in China?

The territoriality principle says that a trademark owner only has rights in a mark in the country where it has been registered. Trademark rights, under most circumstances, are tied to geography.

According to the Trademark Law of China,

1) the owner of a registered trademark has the exclusive right to use the trademark.

2) Any natural person, legal person or other organization intending to acquire the exclusive right to use a mark for his goods or services in his production and business operations should apply for registration of the mark to the Trademark Office;

3) For goods required by law or administrative regulations to bear a registered trademark, an application for registration of a trademark must be filed. If no registration has been made, such goods cannot be offered for sale in the market.

Any foreigner or foreign enterprise intending to enter the Chinese market must register the trademark in China for his goods or services to protect his exclusive rights to that trademark in China, or file an application under the Madrid Protocol – an international trademark treaty – and request protection of that mark in more countries.

Owners of registered trademarks have the ability to prevent others from using their registered trademark without permission and may claim infringement of their trademark rights.

Note: This English version is only for reference. To learn more, please refer to the authoritative Chinese version.