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My Manufacturer Registered My Brand Name in China. What Now?

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If your factory or agent filed your brand name in China, you have a specific ground to challenge it: Chinese trademark law has long refused or cancelled a registration filed by an agent or representative in its own name without the principal's authorization. The work is to document the relationship, act inside the opposition or invalidation window, and file your own Chinese application now, through Chinese counsel. The U.S. side is where I can help: your U.S. filing, the paperwork that proves the relationship, and the supplier agreement that keeps this from happening again.

Here's how I'd think about it, with the money on the line.

Why this happens, and why your U.S. filing didn't stop it

China gives trademark rights to whoever files first, and a U.S. registration doesn't count there. The people best placed to file your name first are the ones who see it first: the factory, the sourcing agent, a distributor. The article on China's new trademark law explains the first-to-file rule and what changes on January 1, 2027. The article on whether a U.S. trademark protects you abroad covers why your federal registration stops at the border.

The practical problem is leverage. A registration in the factory's name is a claim on the name of the product you're paying them to make. Whether, and how, it can be used against your own shipments is a question for Chinese counsel, and it's the reason to move quickly rather than wait for the next order to find out.

The ground built for exactly this

China's trademark law includes a rule aimed at the agent who files the principal's mark. In the English text published by the Shanghai IP office, Article 15 reads: "Where any agent or representative registers, in its or his own name, the trademark of a person for whom it or he acts as the agent or representative without authorization therefrom, and the latter raises opposition, the trademark shall be rejected for registration and prohibited from use."

A USPTO-hosted presentation by a Chinese trademark attorney describes the two branches of that rule as it later developed: the first for an "agent or representative" who "without the authorization files application" when "the principal objects," and the second for an applicant with a business relationship who "is fully aware of the existence of the trademark owned by the other party." A contract manufacturer who files the brand it's been making for you fits the first description, and a supplier who saw your name in a quote or a purchase order and filed it may fit the second. The site's earlier article notes that the revised law taking effect in 2027 carries this rule forward as Article 22.

What this means for you: the relationship is your case. Gather the manufacturing agreement, purchase orders, invoices, emails, the samples with your name on them, and anything that shows the factory knew the name was yours before it filed. Dates matter more than volume.

The windows

The same presentation lays out two paths. If the application hasn't registered yet, an opposition can be filed after the mark is published, within the opposition period. If it has already registered, an invalidation can be requested "within 5 years after registration," with an exception for bad faith against famous marks. The site's earlier article notes that the 2027 law shortens the opposition window from three months to two, so someone has to be watching the publications for your name.

Those windows are the reason I'd rather get the bad news now than after the next production run. An opposition is cheaper than an invalidation, and an invalidation is cheaper than a five-year-old registration you can no longer touch.

Keeping production moving while you fight

A dispute with the factory that holds your name is a supply chain problem as much as a legal one. A few things I'd do in parallel:

  • Don't stop paying attention to the U.S. filing. Your U.S. application or registration is still the thing that protects your sales here. If you haven't filed, file now. The production run article explains why the U.S. application goes in your company's name before the goods exist.
  • Consider the buyout honestly. Sometimes the fastest route is an assignment of the Chinese registration to you, negotiated by Chinese counsel. It's not fair, and it may still be cheaper than six months of lost production. Get the number before you decide.
  • Line up a second source. The negotiation changes when the factory knows it isn't the only one who can make the product.
  • Check the molds. If the factory holds your tooling and your name, you have two problems. The manufacturing agreement article covers the clauses that should have kept both yours.

File your own Chinese application now

Even while you challenge the factory's filing, file your own. A U.S. attorney can't file with China's trademark office directly; the earlier article explains that a foreign company with no office in China files through a Chinese trademark agency, and that the filing should include a Chinese-character version of the name, since a registration in Roman letters doesn't automatically cover one. If your U.S. application was filed within the last six months, ask about claiming that date under the Paris Convention priority rule. The international filing article covers the routes.

One more point from the presentation: a Chinese registration that goes unused can be cancelled after three consecutive years, and the presentation notes that evidence of manufacturing-for-export use is treated differently by different bodies. That cuts both ways. It's a possible path against the factory's registration if it sits idle, and it's a reason to keep your own Chinese registration in use once you have it.

Fix the paperwork so it can't happen twice

Every supplier agreement from here on should say you own the brand, the factory won't file for it or anything like it anywhere, and it can't make the product for anyone else. Add a non-use and non-circumvention clause, and an assignment of any artwork or design the factory creates for you. The U.S. side of that paperwork is on the all services page.

Seed is a $650 clearance search with a written opinion. Grove is $2,600: the search, the opinion and the federal application, with procedural Office Actions included. USPTO fees are separate, $350 per class.

Questions about your name? Email us at hello@citrus.legal, or book a paid 30-minute consultation (opens in a new tab) for advice on your specific situation.

Sources

This article is general information, not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.

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