China - Case studies

A German SME that sells music accessories and instruments is mainly selling to the European market via Amazon. They are currently not selling in China. In 2021, the SME was informed that their brand had been registered by a Chinese individual in China.

Ed van der Hoek, a Dutch artist, has been creating paintings with animals in classic cars as his main theme for almost thirty years. Since 2015, Ed has been finding a large quantity of infringing consumer goods having been sold on various Chinese e-commerce platforms and international platforms.

Arnaud is a family-owned meat processing company based in France. For various reasons, the SME’s China market entry plans had to be postponed until 2023 when Arnaud visited China, with full protection of their trademark. It was then discovered that the trademark's protection would soon expire.

The value of the perfume market in Mainland China and Hong Kong has been continuously growing. For European perfume companies, attending cosmetics trade fairs in Mainland China or Hong Kong is an essential step in international branding strategy.

The European SME sellS mouth freshening products. In recent years, they have found counterfeit products in several Middle Eastern countries. Through an investigation in the Middle East, the SME found out that majority of the counterfeits have been produced in China.

The SME is a family-owned shoe producer based in Spain. It has been exporting shoes to China for years, while the shoes were always manufactured in Spain. Recently, the SME came across counterfeit shoes in Nigeria and found out that the counterfeits were imported from and manufactured in China.

A European SME designs and produces linen products. The SME had not yet entered the China market when it was contacted by an IP law firm in China about their trademark being registered by someone in China, potentially in bad faith.

Rosario Cohen is an heir of a Spanish-Argentinian painter residing in Portugal. In December 2022, she discovered that some of her late husband’s paintings had been reproduced in the form of posters and were on sale on Amazon.ca and Amazon.com e-commerce platforms. The seller was a Chinese company

The SME maintains an online mailing service that helps people around the world connect through sending and receiving postcards. The SME contacted the China IP SME Helpdesk back in August 2021, because they had noticed that someone had already registered the trademark in China in September 2020.

Ti-Cons is a technology provider for titanium dioxide (TiO2) production. TiO2 is the most widely used white colour pigment in the world. Ti-Cons has supplied the technology for two TiO2 pigment plants in China.

SMLT Art is a Lithuanian SME that produces high quality fine art paper products. In 2024, the SME was informed by a Chinese trademark agency that a Chinese company was trying to register a similar trademark in China.

While this SME has not yet entered the China market, recently, one of their dealers informed the SME about a Chinese company selling products similar to the design and colour of those of the SME’s old model. They wondered whether the counterfeiting incident might hinder their market entry in China.

Recently, this SME encountered a case of cybersquatting. The company doing cybersquatting, targeting the European market, might be selling their products at a cheaper price. The SME has repeatedly written to the domain administrator.

The SME is a producer of rakija, a fruit brandy from Serbia, under a family-owned brand. After learning that the China market has a lot of potential for fruit spirits, the SME decided to explore further opportunities by attending
trade fairs in China.

The SME produces and sells fibre optic cables. They use Chinese suppliers that produce some of their products in China while the products are not sold on the China market. The SME has obtained patent protection and industrial design protection in their home country, but not in China.

The SME develops innovative wireless charging technology for various electronic devices. The China market has always been appealing to the SME and in 2019, they established a collaboration with Chinese enterprises in Mainland China and in Taiwan.

The SME is a Swedish company engaged in the sales of consumer products. Worried about the misuse of their trademark in China, they contacted the China IP SME Helpdesk to learn how to minimise the risks that their brand name and logo designs may be used on unauthorised products.

A Danish SME sells water hoses. Majority of the SME’s products originate from China and are sold exclusively in Denmark via the company’s small e-shop. The company currently has no IP registered in China.

This SME provides finishing solutions for various materials. In 2018, the SME set up an office in China and o promote its products, it has been actively participating in trade fairs across China. Soon after their martket entry, the SME noticed its products were being copied.

Prior to attending a trade fair, this SME was approached by one of the major e-commerce platforms in China. The SME was offered a possibility to launch their products on the e-commerce platform. In addition, the e-commerce platform would help to register the SME’s trademark in China.

This SME had recently written a book about business in China. The complexity of publishing a book in China and the copyright piracy drove the SME to contact the China IP SME Helpdesk to learn more about copyright protection in China and how to protect the book from copycats.

The company recently attended a trade fair in China, where they encountered a copy of their newly developed cleaning robot displayed by a Chinese company. They also discovered that the same Chinese company had copied a range of SME’s products and even used the pictures of their products at the fair.

This SME started using software to create Lego models and provide manuals and instructions to guide others on how to use Lego bricks from existing sets to build various objects. Though the SME registered several industrial designs with the EUIPO, there were counterfeits of its products online.

As an innovative company, this SME knows that IP is their most important asset. From the SME’s experience, without proper IP-protection in China, there would be no business opportunities in China (and in Europe). Therefore, IP protection in China was a key element in the SME’s business strategy.

The China IP SME Helpdesk was contacted by a European SME who was in the process of establishing a start-up company based on their recent technological inventions involving the use of AI. The SME had applied for a patent with the CNIPA to protect their latest invention in China, their future target.

The SME was aware of the brand piracy and counterfeiting issues in China. As an F&B company, it is very common to have your brand stolen in China, or worse, some other Chinese companies copy and sell the counterfeit products, threatening your market position.

This SME contacted the China IP SME Helpdesk back in August 2021, because they had noticed that someone had already registered the trademark in China in September 2020. Unfortunately, at that point, the opposition period had already lapsed. 

The SME is a cosmetics company with no trademark currently registered in China. In early 2022, the company was alerted by a local law firm about the company’s trademark being registered by a third party in China. In February 2022, the SME contacted the China IP SME Helpdesk for advice.

The SME is a producer of sangria in an aluminium can. They were considering registering their trademark in China for their product. Therefore, they approached the China IP SME Helpdesk to navigate trademark protection in China.

A European SME manufacturing and selling insect repellents encountered some issues with trademark registration in China. The SME had registered their trademark in the EU, but had some issues with registration in China.

A Belgian SME producing chocolate decided to increase investments in China to improve sales. The company had already been present in the China market for almost a decade, with rather satisfactory sales numbers and a well-prepared IP protection strategy.

On the 1st of March 2021, the EU-China Agreement on Geographical Indications (GIs) entered into force. The Agreement protects around 200 European and Chinese GIs against imitation and duplication.

A German SME focusing on medical equipment sterilisation services recently upgraded one of their core products. The SME produces both the sterilisation devices and the software used to manage the devices.

Different types of intellectual property rights (IPR) give different scope of protection. For example, trade marks protect the distinctiveness of a sign that allows consumers to distinguish one product from any other, while copyright only protects the expression of ideas.

A Croatian charcuterie exporter decided to revise its China market strategy since the SME’s business in China was not doing so well. Some years ago, the company had been working with a Chinese distributor, however, due to some factors the SME had decided to stop doing business with that distributor

A Slovenian manufacturer of toys and accessories for pets decided to invest in a social media campaign to increase market visibility. During this process, the SME found some sellers on China’s major e-commerce platforms selling copies of the SME’s products using the SME’s trade mark.

Encouraged by the sudden boom in the online education market due to Covid-19 pandemic, a small language institute in Belgium saw a great business opportunity to expand and even to internationalise its online language education.

A French SME active in the water sector recently developed a new device for filtering water. The product was very competitive because it could easily be adapted to the particular requests of future clients. The SME patented their main technologies in the main target markets, including China.

An Austrian SME engaged in the logistics sector created a device that would enable workers to carry more weight while protecting their health, mainly the back from injuries. The device has an innovative design, which distributes and absorbs the weight keeping the workers’ physical efforts to the min

A Portuguese SME had never had any actual business in China, nor had they yet interacted directly with any Chinese supplier, distributor or client. Furthermore, their brand was also little known outside of Portugal.

A Hungarian rosé winemaker decided to internationalise his business and enter China’s market. Over the past seven years his small family business had grown, so the SME now enjoyed a solid presence at various European markets and entering China seemed like a logical next step and an attractive market

An Italian tourist stumbled upon a large flagship store of his favourite Italian F&B brand X when visiting Beijing. He took many pictures and once back in Italy, he congratulated a friend of his who was an employee of the company X.

A French programmer contacts the Helpdesk. Their app has been copied by a Chinese company. The French programmer asked if there is anything they could do. The Helpdesk asked if there was any way of proving the date of creation of this app. The French programmer said that they had emailed the source

A Dutch start-up InMotion VR, providing virtual reality solutions in the field of physical therapy, recently managed to secure a new important client in Hong Kong. The new client would not only become one of the biggest clients for the company, but would also be the company’s first Asia-based client

An established German electronics company had been manufacturing their product in China for years. They had signed a strong contract with the Chinese factory manufacturing their goods, however as they did not sell domestically within China, they had not registered their trademarks in China.

An Italia auto-parts company had a new component which they thought would be particularly popular in the Chinese market. They were determining whether to keep the technology as an invention patent or a trade secret.

Secto Design, a Finnish SME didn’t plan to market its product in China, the SME initially didn’t register its intellectual property rights in China. Yet, at a certain point it found that over 90% of the products infringing their IP rights originated from China.

Belgian SME BEA manufactures sensors for automatic doors. Before they wereactive in China they had the foresight to file for an international patent that included the PRC as a designated state.

An Austrian SME active in the fashion and design industry decided to internationalise its business to China. The SME specialized in making theatrical costumes for artistic companies and theatres and found China’s vast market particularly promising for its products.

The Dutch SME Wuvio is a market leader in producing chemicals to combat dust for construction sites, energy producers, mining and dry bulk companies. Wuvio works with unique solutions, which require a structured approach to Intellectual Property (IP).

Every European company owning patents and doing business with China is strongly advised to make active use of the Chinese patent system. Treat your patent applications as one of the most valuable assets of your business in China.

Founder and owner of German SME Natooke Ines Brunn wanted to promote biking in China and decided to set up a shop selling cool and colorful bikes. Natooke was the first store in China to build bespoke fixed gear bikes using bike parts from around the world.

A Spanish SME produces agriculture and farming equipment including tractors. In the coming weeks, the most important agro-industry trade fair in Asia would take place in Beijing. Companies from all over the world would attend the fair to showcase their products.

Lauterbach Development Solutions was founded in 1979 in Munich. Since then the company has developed into the largest manufacturer of microprocessor development tools and installed over 80.000 debuggers worldwide. The company has a manufacturing plant in Suzhou.

Vogmask is the leading anti-pollution mask available in China - using a revolutionary microfiber filtration fabric. Christopher Dobbing founded Vogmask China in 2013. Originally an education consultant, Christopher found that most students he worked with mentioned air pollution as major challenge.

A British SME with a registered trade mark in China found several counterfeits of its products on a popular e-commerce platform. Before starting a take-down action, the Helpdesk recommended to proceed with a search for basic information from the Chinese company infringing their rights.

EngCo’ is a UK-based engineering company and a world leader in various types of mechanical products. The products are supplied internationally to customers in the power and refinery industries for use in high-integrity applications.

After several weeks of negotiation, a European artist authorised a Chinese publishing company to commission a book of paintings and art work. By way of an editing contract, a reproduction licensing right was granted to the editor.

An Italian manufacturer of skin products contacts the Helpdesk. The trade mark registration of his products was rejected by the Chinese Trade Mark Bureau as there was a similar registration. The company asked if there is anything they can do.