China Trademark License Filing & Customs Record

Trademark license filing is where you, the trademark registrant, legally permit others to use your trademark. They will sign a trademark license contract which will be filed in the China trademark office. Trademark license filing is often recorded in a license contract. The license contract states details regarding the right of the licensee to use the registered trademark. Trademark licensing does not involve any transfer of ownership; it simply gives the licensee the right to use the licenser’s trademark.

“According to Article 43 of the Trademark, if a licensor decides to give a licensee permission to use their registered trademark, the trademark license must be submitted to the China Trademark Office (CTMO) for records purposes.“

• Instead of a Chinese company using your trademark without permission, the arrangement is legal and recognised by all parties and the government.
• The trademark holder is paid for the use of their trademark under license.
• The permission to use the trademark either expires or may be revoked, so the trademark holder retains control over their IP.
• The trademark holder can authorise others to use the trademark while at the same time retaining ownership of it.
• An authorisation fee will also be charged to the licensee, specified in the license contract.

1. Trademark registration certificate & scanned copy
2. Scanned copy of your business license
3. Trademark license contract & scanned copy
4. Registration form of the trademark license contract
5. Passport of your company's legal representative & scanned copy
6. Power of attorney

Step 1: Sign the trademark license contract
Step 2: Complete the application form for the trademark license
Step 3: Submit trademark information to the China Trademark Office (CTMO)
Step 4: Examine the trademarks
Step 5: Issue trademark license record certificate

The whole trademark license filing will take 4 months.

Trademark Customs recording is a very useful mechanism for controlling the usage of your trademarks and alerting you to when they are being used without your authorisation. Enterprises or business operators record their trademarks with the China customs General Administration.

Once recorded, each time a commodity with the trademark is cleared, the trademark owner will receive a written notice from local customs confirming the authenticity of the commodity. In the situation that the trademark owner confirms that the commodity is fraudulent and not authorised by the trademark owner, customs will seize the goods immediately.

• Copycats are deterred from stealing your IP.
• Registering your trademark provides enhanced protection against counterfeit or infringing products. The system ensures that infringing products are discovered promptly, allowing sufficient time for investigation and action.
• Customs all over China can be included in the scope of supervision.
• Your brand is protected.
• Fake products are less likely to reach your market and be sold in competition to your own.
• The scope of protectionism is extensive as customs all over the country can be involved in detaining infringing products. Therefore, this level of protectionism can deter the frequency of infringement attempts in the future.

Step 1: Submit materials to the General Administration of Customs for acceptance.
Step 2: Upon acceptance, the General Administration of Customs will begin to examine the materials.
Step 3: Once examined, the trademark filing process has successfully been completed.

The whole process of recording your trademark with Chinese Customs will take 2-3 months.

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