Company Names vs Trademarks in China: When a Local Company Uses Your Brand as Its Trade Name
In a retrial over the "Liu Fu" (六福) jewellery mark (case no. (2026) Zui Gao Fa Min Zai 51), China's Supreme People's Court reaffirmed that a business which knowingly registers a sign similar to another party's earlier, well-known trademark as its company trade name can commit unfair competition even if it always uses its full company name properly, as long as confusion remains likely (news). A jewellery company had registered "Jin Liu Fu Shang Mei" as its trade name; the retrial overturned a second-instance ruling that proper use of the full name was enough. For foreign brand owners, this matters because Chinese company names and Chinese trademarks are registered in separate systems, and a local company can end up with your brand, or its Chinese version, in its name.
Why company names and trademarks collide in China
Trademarks are examined and registered by the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA). Company names are registered by local market regulation authorities, largely on a self-declaration basis, without a check against registered trademarks. A Chinese company name has four parts, for example "Shanghai + [trade name] + Trading + Co., Ltd.", and the trade name (zihao, 字号) is the distinctive element. It is the trade name that clashes with brands.
Conflicts run in two directions:
- A local company uses your mark as its trade name, often the Chinese transliteration of a foreign brand.
- Someone files your trade name as a trademark, for example the name of your Chinese subsidiary.
When a company uses your mark as its trade name
Prominent use is trademark infringement. If the company displays the trade name on its own, prominently, on identical or similar goods or services, for instance on shop signs or packaging, and the public is likely to be misled, Chinese courts treat this as infringement of the registered mark under Article 57 of the current Trademark Law and the Supreme People's Court's interpretation on trademark disputes.
Use of the full name can still be unfair competition. Article 58 of the Trademark Law sends cases where another party's registered mark, or an unregistered well-known mark, is used as a trade name and misleads the public to the Anti-Unfair Competition Law. The Liu Fu case confirms that the test is likelihood of confusion and intent to free-ride, not whether the full name is written out. A well-known mark and a competitor in the same trade make a finding more likely.
Can the company be made to change its name? Courts can order the defendant to stop using the name or to use it in a non-infringing way. A company whose name must stop being used has to register a name change within 30 days of the final judgment or decision.
Practical steps:
- Secure evidence of the company's registration details and its use: signage, packaging, online shops, marketing, preferably by notarisation or online evidence preservation.
- Show your mark's reputation in China before the company name was registered: sales, advertising and media coverage in China. See well-known marks in China.
- Choose a route: a demand letter, a complaint to the market regulation authority, or a lawsuit seeking a stop to use, a name change and damages.
When someone files your trade name as a trademark
Article 32 of the Trademark Law protects existing prior rights, and an earlier company trade name can be one of them. You generally have to prove that the trade name had some reputation in China before the other party's filing date and that confusion is likely. Oppose during the publication period or seek invalidation within five years of registration; see trademark squatting in China. Registering the core name as a trademark from the start is far simpler than relying on prior rights later.
What foreign brand owners should do now
- Register your Chinese brand name as a trademark, not only the Latin-script mark. Local companies usually copy the Chinese version. See choosing a Chinese brand name.
- Search before naming a Chinese subsidiary: check registered marks in your field, so your own trade name does not clash with an earlier local mark. See what a clearance search covers.
- Monitor new trademark filings and, where practical, new company registrations using your brand.
- Keep dated evidence of use in China, which is needed for both infringement and prior-rights claims.
FAQ
The company's name was approved by the registry. Does that protect it? No. Name registration does not examine trademark conflicts, so approval is no defence.
How is this different from reverse confusion? Reverse confusion concerns a larger later user of your brand; see when a bigger company uses your brand name in China. This guide is about the conflict between the company-name and trademark systems.
Will the 2027 revised law change this? The revised Trademark Law takes effect on 1 January 2027 and renumbers some articles. This guide cites the current law; check the new text once it applies.
J&C Intellectual Property Agency (JCIPO), founded in 2008, is a CNIPA-recorded trademark agency and a member of the China Trademark Association. We handle clearance searches, filings, oppositions, invalidations and enforcement in China; see our trademark enforcement service. Patent filings are handled through an affiliated patent agency.
