The LEHMAN, Lee & Xu China Trademarks Newsletter keeps you up to date on recent developments in
China Trademark law and practice
Protecting Your China Product Name
Everybody knows by now that China is a “first-to-file” Trademark registration system and protection of your brand name is impossible unless you register first. This also applies to individual product names. In China products are naturally required to have a Chinese label, and a Chinese name helps the Chinese consumer identify your product.
If your foreign product ever becomes popular in China… and you hope it does, the product will receive a colloquial Chinese name assigned by consumers and by resellers selling the product on e-commerce platforms like Alibaba. Once this happens, your product is not your own.
Coming up with a Chinese product name, and registering for that trademark at early stages is essential. This will allow you to combat knock-offs and resellers selling your product under different names.
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