Don’t send samples to China before you do this one thing

Before you even think about sending product samples to China, before you promote your product on Chinese social media, and well before you even think about taking part in any tradeshows in China, you need to fully trademark your brand in China.

You would be shocked to find out how many brands do not do this.

China is a ‘first to file’ jurisdiction. Generally speaking, the first one to file a brand name in China will be awarded exclusive rights in that mark.

This ‘first to file’ approach has launched a whole industry that revolves around trademark ‘squatting’—where someone else registers your brand to sell it back to you for a profit or to trade off a well known brand for their own benefit.

If your brand has been acquired by someone else, then it is an expensive and time-consuming process to attempt to get it back, so don’t take any chances.

• As soon as you even think about China as a market for your product, trademark your brand.

• Trademarks need to be filed for both English and Chinese versions of your brand to cover as many bases as possible.

• File as broadly as you can, across multiple classes and sub-classes, and cover future product launches or potentially related products such as accessories.

There are millions of trademarks filed in China every year, and it is becoming more and more competitive. If your brand name is common or contains generic terms that can’t be ‘owned’, then it will be more difficult to successfully trademark, and you will need specialist advice from an experienced trademark lawyer with China market expertise to develop a successful strategy.