China Trademark Registration: Classes, Timeline & Cost

TL;DR

China is primarily a first-to-file trademark jurisdiction. Foreign businesses should search and file before a distributor, exhibition, product launch or major supplier disclosure makes the brand visible.
Protection is tied to the mark, class and approved goods or services. China uses the 45-class Nice system but examines detailed goods and services through local subclass practice, so choosing only a broad class heading can leave material gaps.
The statutory examination period is nine months, followed by a three-month opposition window after preliminary approval. A straightforward case may still take longer once filing formalities and certificate issuance are included; refusal, amendment or opposition extends the process.

If trademark protection is part of your China market-entry plan, talk to ChinaBizPro about coordinating the brand, entity, business scope and launch timetable with qualified trademark support before public use.

Why filing early matters in China

Trademark rights in China generally depend on registration, and competing applications are strongly affected by filing date. Prior overseas use or ownership of a matching domain does not automatically reserve the mark in mainland China. Well-known-mark and prior-right remedies exist, but they are fact-intensive, costly and not a substitute for an early application.

The filing decision should come before the brand appears in:

distributor or manufacturer negotiations;
trade fairs and exhibitions;
China-facing websites, social accounts or app stores;
product packaging, labels and customs records;
company-name selection or store signage; and
employment, franchise or licensing discussions.

An application can be filed before the China operating company is incorporated. Decide whether the overseas parent, a dedicated IP owner or the future China entity should own the mark. Ownership should follow the group's long-term licensing, tax, investment and enforcement model rather than whichever entity can file fastest.

The China market-entry strategy guide helps place IP filing alongside entity, partner, city and channel decisions.

What can be registered?

Chinese law permits registrable signs including words, devices, letters, numbers, three-dimensional signs, color combinations, sounds and combinations of these elements, provided the sign can distinguish the applicant's goods or services and is not prohibited by law.

For most foreign companies, the initial portfolio includes some combination of:

The original word mark

Protect the Latin-alphabet brand without relying only on a stylized logo. A word registration can remain useful when fonts and visual identity change.

The logo or combined mark

A device or word-and-device application protects the filed visual form. It may not provide the same flexibility as a separate word mark, so search and budget for each format deliberately.

A Chinese-language brand

Customers, distributors and media may create their own Chinese name if the business does not. Choose and search a Chinese transliteration, translation or newly coined name before market use. Check pronunciation, meaning, dialect concerns and consistency with the corporate or product strategy.

Product, service and sub-brand names

Not every slogan or model deserves a separate filing. Prioritize signs that customers use to identify commercial origin and that the company expects to license, enforce or retain over time.

Absolute and relative grounds for refusal

CNIPA examines whether the sign itself is registrable and whether it conflicts with earlier rights.

Absolute-ground issues can include signs that lack distinctiveness, are generic or directly descriptive, are misleading, or contain prohibited state, official, discriminatory or socially harmful elements. A mark that simply names the product, quality, function or place may be difficult to monopolize.

Relative-ground issues include an earlier identical or similar mark covering identical or similar goods or services. Earlier copyright, personal-name, portrait, trade-name and other rights can also matter. Searching only the exact English spelling is therefore inadequate.

A useful clearance search considers:

identical and visually similar Latin spellings;
phonetic equivalents and spacing variations;
likely Chinese transliterations and translations;
similar device elements and dominant logo features;
earlier marks in relevant classes and subclasses;
related goods or services that customers may assume come from one source; and
relevant company names, domains, copyright and market use.

A search reduces uncertainty but cannot guarantee registration. Databases change, unpublished applications may exist, and similarity involves examiner judgment.

Understanding the 45 classes and China subclasses

The Nice Classification divides goods into Classes 1–34 and services into Classes 35–45. An application is filed and charged by class, but the actual scope is the approved list of goods or services within that class.

China's examination practice further organizes many items into similarity subclasses. Items in one class are not automatically treated as similar, and items in different groups can sometimes have relationships under the official classification guidance. This has practical consequences:

Filing in Class 9 for one software-related item does not necessarily cover every digital product.
Class 35 is relevant to specified advertising, business and retail-related services, but it does not replace protection for the goods a company sells.
A restaurant brand may need service protection in Class 43 and separate filings for packaged food, beverages or retail activity.
A manufacturer may need marks for finished goods, key product components, maintenance services and online software under several classes.

Do not select all 45 classes without a commercial reason. Broad defensive filing increases cost, monitoring and non-use exposure. Build a filing matrix instead:

Priority	Coverage	Decision question
Core	Goods or services sold or launched now	What does the customer buy under this mark?
Near-term	Planned offerings within the next 1–3 years	Is there an approved product or channel plan?
Defensive	Adjacent areas where confusion or squatting would be damaging	Would a third-party registration materially block the business?
Optional	Remote categories with no credible use	Is the cost and non-use risk justified?

China permits cancellation applications against a registered mark that has not been used for three consecutive years without a proper reason. A portfolio should therefore match a plausible use and evidence plan.

Direct national filing or Madrid designation?

A foreign owner can seek China protection through a direct national application or designate China through the Madrid System if the applicant meets Madrid eligibility requirements.

Direct China application

This route uses a locally prepared list of goods and services and a China trademark agent where required. It can offer closer control over local subclass drafting, Chinese correspondence and record details.

Madrid designation

An international registration can centralize portfolio administration across several jurisdictions. However, the China designation is still examined under Chinese law. Broad or non-standard descriptions may need careful handling, and ownership details, local names and enforcement evidence still require China-specific planning.

The correct route depends on the existing home application or registration, number of countries, desired goods and services, ownership plan, timing and budget. A Madrid filing is not automatically broader or faster.

Foreigners or foreign enterprises without a habitual residence or place of business in China must entrust a legally established trademark agency to handle China trademark matters. Engage a qualified provider and verify the proposed application before authorization.

Information and documents to prepare

For each proposed mark, prepare a controlled instruction pack:

applicant's exact legal name, entity type, registration number and address;
applicant incorporation certificate or identity document, with required Chinese translation;
a clear image of the mark in the format to be filed;
indication of whether color is claimed or the mark is filed without a color limitation;
selected classes, subclasses and standard goods or services;
signed power of attorney in the required form;
priority details and certified copy where a convention-priority claim is made;
Chinese name and translation rules for the applicant; and
contact and internal approval details for official notices.

An applicant claiming priority from an earlier qualifying foreign application generally must file in China within six months, claim priority when filing and submit the required earlier-application copy within the prescribed period. Do not wait until the six-month deadline to begin translation and class review.

Step-by-step registration process

1. Confirm ownership and filing objectives

Choose the owner, marks, countries, products, services and launch dates. Check that the applicant name and address match official records exactly.

2. Create the class and subclass matrix

Map current revenue, near-term launches, channels and defensive priorities. Use accepted CNIPA descriptions where possible and avoid vague wording that does not identify the real goods or services.

3. Search the marks

Run exact, similarity, phonetic, Chinese-name and device searches. Review both registration risk and third-party rights that may affect use.

4. Decide the filing strategy

Consider separate word, logo and Chinese-name applications; direct or Madrid routes; priority claims; and whether a risky mark needs a backup brand.

5. Approve and file

Check every applicant detail, mark image and item before filing. Material changes to the mark or goods and services generally cannot simply be added after submission; a new application may be required.

6. Complete formality and substantive examination

CNIPA reviews the application. The Trademark Law states that examination should be completed within nine months from receipt of the application documents. An examiner may request explanation or correction, or issue a refusal based on registrability or earlier marks.

7. Monitor the preliminary-approval announcement

If approved, the mark is published for a three-month opposition period. Eligible prior-right holders or interested parties may oppose on specified grounds, and certain absolute grounds can be raised more broadly under the law.

8. Register and record the mark

If no effective opposition prevents registration, CNIPA approves registration and issues the registration record or certificate. Verify the owner, mark, classes, items and dates when received.

9. Put the registration into use and control it

Use the mark in the registered form on approved goods or services, keep dated evidence, monitor conflicting filings and record ownership or address changes. Registration is an asset-management process, not a one-time certificate purchase.

Timeline: what the statutory periods do and do not mean

The Trademark Law provides a nine-month examination period and a three-month opposition window after preliminary approval. These periods are important planning anchors, but a business should not promise a fixed 12-month certificate date.

Additional time can arise from:

filing formalities or classification correction;
examiner questions or partial refusal;
refusal review proceedings;
opposition and subsequent review or litigation;
priority or applicant-document issues;
certificate and internal record processing; and
a decision to file a replacement or narrower application.

Plan brand launch separately from the legal timeline. Filing gives an earlier position but does not guarantee the outcome, and using a mark can still infringe someone else's earlier right before registration is decided.

Official fees and total budget

CNIPA's published fee schedule currently lists the following application charges:

Paper application: RMB 300 per class for up to 10 goods or services, plus RMB 30 for each additional item in that class.
Eligible online application accepting electronic issuance: RMB 270 per class for up to 10 goods or services, plus RMB 27 for each additional item.

These are official filing fees, not the total project cost. Confirm the current schedule at filing because fees can change. A realistic budget can also include:

clearance searching and legal assessment;
class and subclass specification design;
trademark-agent professional fees;
Chinese translation and applicant-document work;
priority-document handling;
responses to office actions or refusals;
opposition, review or litigation;
watching and enforcement; and
later change, assignment, licensing or renewal records.

Ask for a fee breakdown by mark, class and service stage. A low filing quote may exclude searches, extra items, refusal response or certificate reporting.

Common mistakes foreign businesses make

Filing only after appointing a distributor or revealing the brand at a trade fair.
Assuming an overseas registration, company name or domain protects mainland China.
Filing only the English logo and leaving the word mark and Chinese name unprotected.
Selecting a class title without checking the detailed goods, services and subclasses.
Treating Class 35 as universal protection for selling any product.
Naming the local distributor or employee as owner for convenience.
Using a cheap transliteration without checking meaning, pronunciation and prior marks.
Filing every class defensively without a use, evidence or monitoring plan.
Ignoring an examiner deadline, opposition notice or applicant-address change.
Assuming registration in simplified Chinese automatically covers every traditional-character, phonetic or logo variation.
Letting packaging and invoices use a form materially different from the registered mark without preserving evidence of the registered form.
Paying for filing without receiving a confirmed application number, item list and official record.

After registration: use, renewal and enforcement

A China trademark registration is valid for ten years from the approval date. It can be renewed for successive ten-year periods. Renewal should be filed during the 12 months before expiry; a six-month grace period is available if the regular window is missed, subject to the applicable procedure and fees.

Maintain a portfolio register containing:

registration and application numbers;
owner name and address;
mark image and Chinese name;
classes, subclasses and approved items;
filing, priority, approval and renewal dates;
licensees and recorded changes;
examples of use by product, service and year; and
watch notices, disputes and enforcement actions.

Good use evidence can include dated invoices, contracts, packaging, labels, product photographs, advertising, exhibition records and online sales records that connect the registered mark, relevant goods or services, territory and owner or authorized licensee. Preserve originals or reliable system records, not only undated screenshots.

Trademark ownership should also be checked in commercial due diligence. The China due-diligence checklist explains how registration, ownership and operating evidence fit into partner or acquisition review.

Frequently asked questions

Do we need a China company before filing?

No. A qualified overseas applicant can file, normally through a China trademark agency when it lacks a China residence or place of business. Choose the owner based on long-term control and licensing, not just incorporation timing.

Should we register a Chinese name?

Usually it should at least be selected, searched and assessed. If customers or partners are likely to use a Chinese name, filing early helps the business control which name becomes associated with the brand.

Does one class protect everything in that class?

No. Scope depends on the approved goods or services, and China subclass practice affects similarity analysis. Review the detailed item list rather than relying on the class number alone.

Can we use the trademark while the application is pending?

Filing does not automatically prohibit use, but it also does not confirm that use is non-infringing or that registration will succeed. Complete clearance and use the unregistered symbol accurately; do not represent a pending mark as registered.

What happens if the application is refused?

Options may include review of the refusal, narrowing or refiling, negotiating around an earlier right, challenging a vulnerable prior registration or adopting another mark. Deadlines are short, so route the notice to qualified counsel immediately.

Is a registered mark safe if it is not used?

Not indefinitely. A registration can face cancellation for three consecutive years of non-use without proper reason. Keep genuine use evidence and review defensive marks regularly.

Do we need customs recordation?

Customs IP recordation is separate from trademark registration and can be valuable for businesses exposed to counterfeit imports or exports. Consider it after the relevant China trademark right is in place.

Trademark Registration in China: Classes, Timeline and Cost