A UK registration gives you rights inside the United Kingdom only. Trademark rights are territorial, so the mark on the UKIPO register — including the well-known ones that survive on reputation — 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 UK brands run into most often: the brand starts selling into China through a marketplace, a distributor or a Tmall cross-border store, and only then discovers a Chinese company has already filed the name — sometimes the local distributor itself. From that point, every extra month of selling builds value in a brand you may have to buy back. Filing before the first shipment costs a fraction of that.
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.
We file with the CNIPA on your behalf as your registered agent.
Extend an international registration to China via UKIPO and WIPO.
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.
If you have already filed at the UK Intellectual Property Office (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.
Mention your UKIPO filing date in the enquiry and we will flag whether priority is worth claiming in your case.
The one UK-specific wrinkle is why the incorporation certificate needs a companion document. The published examination guidance asks that submitted documents be within their stated validity period. A UK Certificate of Incorporation records a historical fact — that the company was incorporated on a particular day — and carries no validity field at all. The confirmation statement (form CS01), or a recently drawn Companies House extract, is what shows the company exists today. That is the reason we ask for both; it is not an extra hurdle we invented. Companies under a year old will not have filed a CS01 yet, and that is fine — send what you have and tell us the incorporation date.
If you hold both a UK registration and an EU trade mark, they are two separate rights. Since the UK left the EU, neither covers the other’s territory, so it is worth deciding deliberately which one the Chinese application takes priority from — or which serves as the base if you go the Madrid route. Tell us both filing dates and we will say which gives the better position for your goods. Neither right, incidentally, carries any weight inside China: only a Chinese registration does.
UK applicants sometimes assume that documents in English do not need translating. They do. The CNIPA requires a Chinese translation, and a filing submitted without one is treated as if the document had never been provided. We prepare the translation and it is included in the price — you do not need a certified translator.
For the record on authentication: an ordinary filing needs none. If a document ever does need authenticating — collective and certification marks do — the UK has been a member of the Hague Apostille Convention since 1965, so a single apostille is sufficient and no consular legalization is involved.
Six items for a standard UK application, and none of them needs a notary or an apostille. One item is genuinely different from most countries, so it is worth reading: the UK registration document alone is usually not enough, and we ask for a second Companies House filing alongside it.
Your proof of legal status — UK company registration document, or passport if you file as an individual We ask for it
Your Certificate of Incorporation from Companies House. This records the fact that the company was incorporated and its original name — useful, but it is a snapshot of the day of incorporation and says nothing about the company today. Filing in your own name rather than through a company? Then what the CNIPA needs is your international passport: the page carrying your photograph, full name and nationality. A UK driving licence, a passport card or a national insurance record cannot be substituted for it, and the point matters at filing rather than later, so tell us early.
A current Companies House filing showing the company is still registered UK-specific
Your most recent confirmation statement (the annual filing, form CS01), or a company register extract taken recently. The CNIPA examination guidelines do not list any country-specific documents — they only ask that submitted documents be within their stated validity period, and a certificate of incorporation records one day in history with no validity period at all. In practice this is exactly the kind of file that draws a formality-correction notice and costs weeks, so we ask for the annual filing up front: it is updated every year and shows the company as it stands today. Companies incorporated less than a year ago will not have one yet — send the incorporation documents and tell us the date of incorporation. If the company has changed name or been restored to the register, send the filing that shows the current position.
Chinese translation of those documents We do this for you
Required by the CNIPA; an application without it is treated as if the document had never been filed. We prepare the translation and it is inside the $199 — you do not need a certified or sworn translator. English is enough to go straight to Chinese. For a document in another language — a Welsh-language filing rarely trips anyone up, but a foreign national’s passport in Cyrillic or Arabic does — we prepare the English translation first and the Chinese one from it, both ourselves and both included in the same price.
Your trade mark name You send us
Just the words to be registered, as they should appear on the certificate. That is all we need — we do not ask you for a Chinese name or a translation of the mark. Separately we will usually recommend also registering a Chinese version of the brand, because that is the form customers in China will speak and search. That is a recommendation, not a filing requirement, and the choice stays with you.
Your trade mark image — only if your mark is graphical Only for logos
A plain word mark needs no image at all — we type the words into the application and that becomes the registered mark. A logo, device or combined word-and-artwork mark does need one: a clean black-and-white JPEG or PNG at adequate resolution, since what you send is what gets registered.
Signed Power of Attorney You sign
A foreign applicant must file through a Chinese agent, and the agent needs your written authority to act. We send our standard form once the quote is approved; you sign it, scan it and send it back. A plain signed scan is enough — no notarization, no apostille and no consular legalization.
| 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.
The process is the same worldwide; these pages cover the country-specific questions — priority from your home office and the Madrid route from it.
Send us the mark and the goods or services you will use it on. We search it against earlier filings in China and reply in writing with what we found, together with the fee. Nothing is payable until you confirm.
Send your trademark and products or services through our client portal. The search is free, even if you decide not to register.
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