When to Register Your China Trademark: The Goldilocks Principle

Home | China Law Blog | When to Register Your China Trademark: The Goldilocks Principle Table of Contents Toggle China Trademarks: The Goldilocks Principle of When to Register When it comes to China trademark registration, timing is everything. File too late, and someone else might beat you to your own brand. File too early, and you risk losing your trademark for non-use. Like Goldilocks, you need to get it just right. The Cautious Client: Waiting on Government Approval An Australian client recently asked if they should register their brand name and logo as trademarks in China, even though their product hadn’t yet received Chinese government approval. Their concern? Spending money on trademarks they might never use. Their bigger concern? A trademark squatter registering their brand name before they could enter the market. Our advice was clear: You should absolutely register your brand name in China before disclosing it publicly or engaging any Chinese distributors. Once someone else sees value in your mark, they might register it first—and under China’s first-to-file system, they could legally block you from using your own name. Beyond those critical steps, we recommended weighing the cost of trademarking (both the brand and the logo) against the odds of someone else registering them without notice. In this case, because the product name was distinctive and region-specific to the U.S., the risk was relatively low—so long as the client kept their China plans confidential and didn’t need to reveal the brand during the product approval process. The Overeager Inventor: Filing Too Soon At the other end of the spectrum was an inventor convinced his product would be a global success. He wanted to file a China trademark application across six classes—immediately—even though he had no timeline for manufacturing. We urged caution. Filing at that stage would offer little benefit and real risk. Since his brand name was highly distinctive, there was minimal danger of someone else registering it—unless they heard about it from him. We advised holding off on trademark registration until revealing the brand became necessary. Under China’s trademark law, if a registered mark isn’t used for three consecutive years, it becomes vulnerable to cancellation for non-use. Filing too early, without any commercial activity or enforcement plan, can mean losing the mark before it ever becomes valuable. So When Should You Register a Trademark in China? The sweet spot lies between premature protection and delayed action. You want to file before any exposure or negotiation in China—but not so early that your trademark gathers dust and becomes a liability. This kind of strategic timing helps protect your brand from trademark squatters, non-use cancellation, and costly disputes. Whether you're on the verge of entering the market or still mapping out your expansion strategy, a well-timed China trademark registration can make all the difference. Our international trademark team can help you find that Goldilocks moment. Let us know when you're ready. Check Out Our China Law Services Share Twitter Facebook LinkedIn E-mail Comment Dan Harris Dan Harris is a founding member of Harris Sliwoski, an international law firm where he mostly represents companies doing business in emerging market countries. Most of his time is spent helping American and European companies navigate foreign countries by working with the international lawyers at his firm in setting up companies overseas (WFOEs, Subsidiaries, Rep Offices and Joint Ventures), drafting international contracts, protecting IP, and overseeing M&A transactions. In addition, Dan writes and speaks extensively on international law, with a focus on protecting foreign businesses in their overseas operations. 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