It is very important to register your trade mark in China before entering into the market because it can diminish the risk of your trade mark being hijacked. Even if your company only manufactures products in China for export, you should still make your trademark registration in China. A trade mark can be registered through the ‘national’ or ‘international’ system and can only be protected in China once it has been registered.
Under the Madrid Protocol, the application for extension to China is based either on the trade mark application or registration. In practice, there are four kinds of trademarks registration are recognized by the Trademark Law in China, they are: General trademarks, Collective marks,Certification marks and Well-known trademarks.
A trade mark can be registered through the ‘national’ or ‘international’ system and can only be protected in China once it has been registered. The registration of trademarks in China is quite a simple and inexpensive procedure.The application shall undergo a preliminary examination, followed by a substantive examination. If it passes these examinations, the Trademark Office will publish the application, which, if not opposed, will be registered after three months.The national Chinese trade mark registration is valid for ten years.