China Trademarks and Your Chinese Distributor

Home | China Law Blog | China Trademarks and Your Chinese Distributor Clients sometimes come to our China lawyers with the following situation. They have found a Chinese distributor for their product, and both sides are ready to begin selling products in China right away. As in, tomorrow. So far so good. But our client sells a branded product, and they have not registered their brand as a trademark in China. This is not so good. The client knows (perhaps from reading this blog) that the only realistic way to get trademark rights in China is by registering them, because China is a first-to-file country. And then they learn that it usually takes 12-15 months to get a trademark registration in China. At this point they become concerned about the nontrivial period when their distributor will be selling their branded product in China without trademark protections. They should be concerned. But not too concerned, as long as they file their China trademark application right away and enter into a written distribution agreement with their Chinese distributor. This distribution agreement should contain provisions stating that the trademark belongs to the client and its distributor may use the mark in China, but will not file any competing applications, oppositions, or invalidations. The distribution agreement should also include appropriate contractual language protecting the IP more generally. And if you want this agreement to work to protect your trademark in China, it should be in Chinese. A distribution agreement with the above provisions (along with countless others, of course) will sufficiently protect your IP as against your China distributor. The remaining concern, which cannot be addressed in a distribution agreement, is infringement by a third party while the trademark application is pending. Without a valid China trademark registration in China, there is usually not much you can do to stop a third party from using "your" mark. But most legitimate Chinese companies do not employ a strategy that gives them only 12-15 months to establish and profit from a brand name, after which it must stop using that brand name or risk paying damages for trademark infringement. Especially when it will be your company (not theirs) that will eventually benefit from the 12 to 15 months of work the Chinese company spent in building up what will become your protected brand name. That leaves the counterfeiters, for whom 12-15 months is more than enough time to make a profit, but who typically are not interested in spending time and money making and marketing a counterfeit product until the brand they will be stealing has developed enough name recognition to be worth ripping off. Still, yet another reason to file a trademark application now. Because your distributor is going to be the one who bears much of the brunt of any trademark infringement in China we often see situations where an American or European company comes to us after having been instructed by their potential or actual distributors to file for trademarks in China. We also often see situations where the Chinese distributor – in an effort to protect its own business – will file and get trademarks in China on the brand names of the products it is distributing for a foreign company that has neglected to file for its own trademarks. In those situations, the remedy is to pay the Chinese distributor a nominal amount to transfer ownership of the trademarks to the foreign company. If the distribution relationship is going smoothly and profitably, this is usually not a problem. But if the situation is otherwise, this is usually a big problem for the foreign company. One final note: many foreign companies do not create a Chinese brand name before selling their product in China, only to discover that a name has been created for them and registered as a trademark – often by their Chinese distributor. This is obviously a lot more likely to occur if your product is being sold in China. So if you have not already come up with a Chinese brand name for your product, do so now, and also make sure that your China distribution agreement requires your Chinese distributor to assign to you any Chinese-language marks that relate to your product that it has already registered. Check Out Our China Law Services Share Twitter Facebook LinkedIn E-mail Comment Fred Rocafort Fred leads Harris Sliwoski’s intellectual property practice and is the coordinator of the firm’s international team. Much of Fred’s practice consists of helping cannabis businesses protect their brands. He also works with entrepreneurs and companies entering the Web3 space, a new frontier for IP law. Prior to joining Harris Sliwoski, Fred worked overseas for more than a decade, in both government and private sector roles. Fred is a regular contributor to the award-winning China Law Blog and Canna Law Blog. Fred began his career overseas as a U.S. consular officer in Guangzhou, China, where he advocated for fairer treatment of American companies and citizens in China and for stronger intellectual property rights enforcement. After entering the private sector, Fred worked at a Shanghai law firm as a foreign legal advisor and later joined one of the oldest American law firms in China, helping foreign companies navigate the Chinese legal environment. He also led the legal team at a Hong Kong-based brand protection consultancy, spending most of his time out in the field, protecting clients against counterfeiters and fraudsters in Greater China, Southeast Asia and Latin America. In addition to his IP work, as a native Spanish speaker, Fred works closely with different Harris Sliwoski teams on Latin America and Spain matters. Fred also provides advice to cannabis industry participants and other businesses on import and export transactions. Fred is an ardent supporter of FC Barcelona—and would be even in the absence of Catalan forebears who immigrated to Puerto Rico in the mid-1800s. Harris Sliwoski Attorney Read more posts [email protected] Read More Intellectual Property (IP) Related Posts September 15, 2026 Your AI-Drafted China Contract Says It Needs a Lawyer. Listen to It. September 11, 2026 Forensic Accountants in China Business Litigation: How True Numbers Can Tell the Wrong Story September 4, 2026 China NNN Agreement or Trademark Registration? You Usually Need Both September 1, 2026 AI Didn't Replace Lawyers. It Gave Us the 48-Page Contract. August 27, 2026 Do I Need a China NNN Agreement or a China Manufacturing Agreement? Usually Both. 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