China Trademark Registration for Spanish Companies

Why Spanish companies still need a Chinese registration

A Spanish registration — or an EU trade mark covering Spain — gives you rights within its own territory only. Trademark rights are territorial, so the mark you registered at home — even one you have used for decades — creates no enforceable rights inside China. Only a Chinese registration does.

On top of that, China is a first-to-file jurisdiction: the registration generally goes to whoever files first with the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA), regardless of who used the mark first elsewhere. The pattern Spanish brands run into most often: a distributor, a manufacturer in the supply chain, or a professional squatter files the brand in China first, then offers to sell the registration back. Food and wine, fashion, footwear and cosmetics are the sectors where this bites hardest, because those are the categories Chinese consumers actively search for by foreign brand name. Distributors and e-commerce platforms in China routinely ask to see the registration before they will list or stock a brand.

Foreign applicants cannot file directly — the application must go through a CNIPA-registered agent, which is what we are. You do not need a Chinese company, a Chinese address or a Chinese bank account. Everything on your side stays in English; we prepare the Chinese filing.

Two routes to a China trademark from Spain

Direct national filing What we handle

We file with the CNIPA on your behalf as your registered agent.

$199 flat per class, including the availability check, drafting, filing and follow-up
Goods and services wording is drafted freely within the Nice class — not locked to another application
No dependency on any other mark: nothing that happens to a home registration can touch it
One point of contact in English for the whole file

Madrid Protocol Possible, with trade-offs

Extend an international registration to China via OEPM and WIPO.

Requires an existing application or registration at OEPM for the same mark and goods
For five years the China right depends on the home mark — if it fails, the international registration collapses (central attack)
If the CNIPA issues a provisional refusal, you need a local agent to answer it anyway
Fees go to WIPO plus an individual designation fee, and are harder to predict per country

Both routes end at the same register. Direct filing is usually the simpler choice when China is the priority market; Madrid earns its keep when you are extending one mark across many countries at once. If you are unsure which fits, tell us your markets in the enquiry and we will say so in writing before anything is payable.

Six-month Paris priority from your OEPM filing

If you have already filed at the Spanish Patent and Trade Mark Office (OEPM) (or at any other Paris Convention or WTO member office), you can claim priority for the Chinese application: file in China within six months of the first filing, and the Chinese application is treated as if it were filed on the same day as the original.

The priority claim is declared when the Chinese application is filed, and the certified copy of the first filing follows within three months
Priority matters most where a squatter risk is live: it moves your effective filing date back before third-party applications
The claim covers what the first filing covers — goods or classes added later are not covered by it

Mention your OEPM filing date in the enquiry and we will flag whether priority is worth claiming in your case.

What is different about filing from Spain

You may have two possible home bases, and it is worth knowing which one you are working from. A Spanish national application or registration sits with the OEPM; an EU trade mark sits with the EU Intellectual Property Office and covers the whole of the European Union. Either can serve as the basis for a Paris priority claim in China, and either can serve as the base for an international registration. Where you hold both, tell us which filing date you want to rely on — we will tell you which gives the cleaner priority position for your goods.

Your company document is the easy part. The Registro Mercantil issues its certificates and extracts with current information, so a recently issued Certificación del Registro Mercantil or Nota Simple already shows that the company exists today. Unlike some jurisdictions, you do not need to chase a separate annual return or a certificate of good standing to sit alongside it. Send us whichever document the registry issued to you — if we need a fuller version for the filing, we will say so before anything is payable.

Your documents will be in Spanish, and that is fine. We prepare the Chinese translation ourselves and it is included in the $199 — you do not need a certified translator. This matters procedurally: an application filed with a foreign-language document and no Chinese translation is treated as if the document had never been submitted, so the translation is not a formality you can skip.

One thing that surprises Spanish applicants: the search does not run in Spanish. A clearance search against Spanish or English lookalikes catches very little, because the marks most likely to block you in China are Chinese-character marks and transliterations of your brand filed locally. Similarity in China is assessed in Chinese, which is why our availability check runs against the CNIPA register rather than a European database — and why we will usually raise the question of a Chinese version of your brand alongside the filing.

What the $199 fee covers

Availability check before filing We search the CNIPA register for identical and confusingly similar marks in your class, so you are not filing into a known conflict.

Application drafted and filed The application form, the goods or services wording and the mark specimen, prepared in Chinese and submitted in your name.

Up to 10 goods or services items Per class. Additional items are charged at USD 10 each, and each extra class is charged separately.

Follow-up until a decision We track the file through formality examination, publication and substantive examination, and report each stage to you.

Electronic registration certificate Delivered to you once the CNIPA issues it. We also send the official filing receipt and application number as soon as they are available.

English-language handling One point of contact, in English, for the whole file. No need to brief a local translator or chase a Chinese intermediary.

Includes up to 10 items of goods or services per class; additional items USD 10 each. Each additional class is charged separately. The price is all-inclusive — the CNIPA official fee, our professional fee, document preparation and translation are all inside it, and nothing is billed separately.

Documents you need to provide

Five things, and you almost certainly already have all of them. Nothing has to be notarized, and nothing has to be sent by post — clean scans are enough.

1

Your Spanish business registration document We ask for it

A Certificación del Registro Mercantil or a Nota Simple — whichever the Registro Mercantil issues for your company. Because these are issued with current information, no separate annual filing or certificate of good standing is needed alongside it. A certified copy is not required.

2

Chinese translation of that document We do this for you

The CNIPA requires a Chinese translation, and an application filed without one is treated as if the document had never been submitted. We prepare the translation and it is included in the $199 — you do not need a certified translator.

3

Your trade mark name You send us

Just the words you want registered, exactly as they should appear on the certificate. That is all we need to file — no Chinese name and no translation is required from you. Separately, we will usually recommend that you also register a Chinese version of the brand, because that is what customers in China will speak and search. That is a recommendation about your broader protection strategy, not a requirement of the application.

4

Your trade mark image — only if your mark is graphical Only for logos

If your mark is a plain word mark, you do not need to send an image — we type the words into the application and that is the mark. If your mark is a logo, a device or a combination of words and artwork, then the image is required: send a clean black-and-white JPEG or PNG at adequate resolution, because whatever you send becomes the legally registered representation of your mark.

5

Signed Power of Attorney You sign

A foreign applicant must file through a Chinese agent, and the agent needs written authority to act for you. We send you our standard form once the quote is approved — you sign it, scan it and send it back. No notarization and no legalization: a plain signed scan is enough.

No notarization or consular legalization As a Spanish applicant you do not need a notary, an apostille or a Chinese consular stamp for a normal China trademark application. China applies the reciprocity principle: where the applicant’s home country does not demand notarization of Chinese applicants, the CNIPA does not demand it in return. The one regular exception is collective marks and certification marks, where authenticated documents are required. Where authentication is ever needed, Spain has been a member of the Hague Apostille Convention since 1978, so a single apostille is sufficient — no consular legalization. Tell us if your case is a collective or certification mark.

Fees

Item	Amount
China trademark registration — first class	USD 199 / class
Each additional class in the same application	USD 199 / class
Additional goods or services items beyond 10 per class	USD 10 / item
Availability search and written quotation	Free

Fees are quoted and payable in US dollars and are all-inclusive — the CNIPA official fee is already inside the price and is never billed separately. Full terms are in our Terms of Service; the complete fee schedule for every other service is on the services page.

China trademarks for Spanish companies — common questions

Can I register a China trademark without a Chinese entity?

Yes. A foreign company or individual can own a China trademark without incorporating anything in China. The only requirement is that the application is filed through a CNIPA-registered agent, which we are. Your home address is used as the applicant address on the register.

Can I claim Paris priority from my Spanish or EU filing?

Yes. If you filed at the OEPM, or at the EU Intellectual Property Office for an EU trade mark, within the last six months, the Chinese application can claim priority from it and is treated as filed on the same day as that first filing. The claim is declared when the Chinese application is filed, and a certified copy of the first filing follows within three months. Priority matters most where a squatter risk is live, because it moves your effective date back ahead of third-party applications. It covers what the first filing covers — goods or classes added later are not covered by it. Tell us which filing you want to base the claim on and we will say which gives the cleaner position.

Should I extend my Spanish or EU mark to China through the Madrid Protocol?

You can: both a Spanish application or registration and an EU trade mark can serve as the base for an international registration designating China through WIPO. The trade-offs are real, though. For five years the China right depends on that base mark (if it fails, the international registration collapses), the goods and services are locked to the international registration, and a CNIPA provisional refusal still needs a Chinese agent to answer. Direct national filing through us avoids all three: free goods wording, no dependency, and one flat price with the agent included. Madrid tends to make sense when you are extending one mark to many countries at once, not when China alone is the target.

How long does it take to register a trademark in China?

Filing happens within about one business day of your approval. From there, formality examination and publication typically take four to six months, and substantive examination brings the usual total to around nine to twelve months where nothing goes wrong. If a refusal or an opposition is raised, the file takes longer and involves a separate chargeable service.

How much does it cost?

Our fee is USD 199 per class, including up to ten items of goods or services. That figure is all-inclusive: the CNIPA official fee is already inside it and is never billed on top. Additional items are USD 10 each, and each further class is charged separately. The availability search and written quotation are free.

Does my existing home registration protect me in China?

No. Trademark rights are territorial, so a registration that covers Spain, or the European Union as a whole where you hold an EU trade mark gives no rights inside China. Only a Chinese registration — through the route above, or through a Madrid extension — is enforceable against squatters, copycats and marketplaces in China.

What happens if my application is refused?

The CNIPA issues a refusal notice with reasons, most commonly a conflict with an earlier mark or a distinctiveness objection. You can respond by requesting a review within the deadline, arguing the mark should proceed. This is a separate service with its own fee; we report the refusal to you with the deadline and the options before anything is spent.

Do you need a Power of Attorney?

Yes. A signed Power of Attorney is required to file on your behalf. We send you the form to sign after the quote is approved, so nothing has to be prepared up front. A simple signed scan is normally enough — there is no need to have it notarized, legalized or consularized before you send it. The full list of documents is in Documents you need to provide above.

Filing from another country

The process is the same worldwide; these pages cover the country-specific questions — priority from your home office and the Madrid route from it.

US United States China trademark from United States GT Guatemala China trademark from Guatemala UK United Kingdom China trademark from United Kingdom EU European Union China trademark from European Union JP Japan China trademark from Japan AU Australia China trademark from Australia General guide The full registration walkthrough