Services
Oppositions, invalidations, non-use cancellations, customs recordal and litigation — including the case where someone registered your brand before you did.
China is first-to-file. Rights follow the register, not the market, and there is an industry of people who read foreign trade press and register brands that have not arrived yet. If you have been manufacturing here, exhibiting here, or negotiating with a distributor here, you have been visible for longer than you think.
If someone got there first, there are routes back, and which one applies depends on facts you can establish rather than on how unfair it feels:
Then there is court, which we do — see the firm's litigation record, including matters that ran to the Supreme People's Court. But the sequence above exists because litigation should be the fourth answer, not the first.
Official fees are CNIPA's, published in yuan so you can check them against the government schedule. Our own service fee is quoted per matter, in the second column.
| Service | Official fee (CNIPA) | Our fee |
|---|---|---|
| Filing an oppositionper classMust be filed within the 3-month publication window (Trademark Law, Art. 33). | ¥450 CNY¥500 if filed on paper | By quotation |
| Responding to an opposition against your markper class | — | By quotation |
| Invalidation actionper classThe most common route for recovering a squatted mark that is already registered. | ¥675 CNY¥750 if filed on paper | By quotation |
| Non-use cancellation (3-year)per classOften the cheapest way to clear a blocking mark that the squatter never actually used. | ¥450 CNY¥500 if filed on paper | By quotation |
| Responding to a non-use cancellation (proving use)per class | — | By quotation |
| China Customs IP recordalper markLets Customs detain suspected infringing exports before they leave China. Frequently the highest-leverage step for a brand whose goods are manufactured here. | — | By quotation |
| Enforcement — negotiating with an infringerfrom | — | By quotation |
| Enforcement — administrative action (AMR raid)from | — | By quotation |
| Enforcement — court proceedingsfrom | — | By quotation |
Full official-fee schedule, including annuities and renewals: the fees guide. Last checked 2026-07-16.
How to register a trademark in China →
The statutory process for a company with no place of business in China. Nine months to examine, three months to oppose, fifteen days to appeal — with the article numbers.
Often, yes — via invalidation, or non-use cancellation if they have held it three years without genuine use. What determines the outcome is evidence: your prior use, their bad faith, their non-use. Get the evidence assessed before you decide it is hopeless, and before you decide to buy the mark back, which is what the squatter is counting on.
Three months from preliminary publication (Art. 33) — but two months from 1 January 2027, when the 2026 revision takes effect (new Art. 36). It is a hard deadline either way. Monitoring exists precisely so that you find out inside the window rather than after it, and that window is about to get a third shorter.
Different tools. Administrative action through the market regulator is faster and cheaper and can stop the conduct; it does not get you damages. Court is slower and gets you a judgment. For goods leaving China, Customs recordal often beats both.
A registration that has stood for three years without genuine use can be cancelled on request. Against squatters it is often the cheapest route back, because squatters hoard marks and rarely trade under them — the burden of proving use falls on the registrant, not on you.
Once your rights are recorded with China Customs, they can detain suspected infringing goods before they leave the country. For a brand manufactured in China it is frequently the highest-leverage step available — and it is administrative protection, not litigation.
Ourselves. The group includes its own law firm, established in 2023, and the litigation record behind this page runs to the Supreme People's Court. Filing and fighting sit inside one mandate, which is exactly where you want them when a dispute starts. The record →
Official fees are in the table above, per the government schedule. Our own fee is quoted in writing after we have seen the evidence — a dispute quote made before reading the file would be a guess, and we do not sell guesses. The first assessment conversation is free.
