Trademark Checks Before Importing from China
Published by Aeonix Trade.
Last fact-checked: November 10, 2026.
Search the name, and look hard at the appearance and the packaging words, before you approve a sample. A supplier letter that says the brand is "available" is not that search. This is a pre-order sequence, not a clearance, and not legal advice. A search that finds nothing today does not promise that nobody will sue.
The offices checked on November 10, 2026, are the China Trademark Office, which offers trademark search, the English CNIPA trademark pages, the USPTO trademark search, and EUIPO trade marks. WIPO's Global Brand Database is a further place to look. Each covers its own register. A US hit does not answer a China filing, and the reverse is also true.
A carton name the supplier called free
A buyer is ready to approve packaging for a house brand. The supplier sends a certificate with a stamp and says the name is clear in China and in the buyer's home market. Nobody on the buyer's side opens the trademark offices. The cartons are printed. Later, a search the buyer finally runs shows a similar word in the class the goods will actually be sold in. Whether that is infringement is for counsel. The miss was approving art before the search. No brand is named in this example, and no workaround is offered.
Name, look, and artwork
| Track | What you compare | What you do not decide here |
|---|---|---|
| Brand name | The word or logo, in the offices for China and for each country you will sell in | That a clean search is a legal opinion |
| Appearance | Shape, graphics, and anything a buyer would recognize as someone else's product | Whether a design right exists. CNIPA is the entry, not a ruling |
| Packaging words | Claims, instructions, and marks you cannot point to a file for | That a factory's "certified" line is the certificate |
Search the word, a close spelling, and the logo as an image if the office you are using allows it. Save the result the day you run it, including the class number you chose, because a later filing can change what a fresh search shows. Do this once for China and once for each country where the carton will be sold. WIPO's database is an extra look across international registrations. It does not replace the national office for the market you care about. An NNN agreement is a contract with the people who sign it. It does not search a register. A purchase contract can say who indemnifies whom. It does not create a trademark. Who puts their brand on a supplier's product is the private label page. Making to your drawing is OEM. A marketplace brand program, including any enrollment that asks for a registration, is that marketplace's procedure. This page does not teach the clicks, and it does not link a program that was not part of this check.
A sequence before the sample is approved
- Write the exact name, the logo, and the product class you intend to sell.
- Search China, the destination, and any other register you will actually use. Save the date.
- Look at the product and the artwork beside that result, not only the word.
- Read any certificate the supplier offers: whose name is on it, and for which goods.
- If a similar mark shows up, pause production and pause print. Do not ask how to pass close to it.
- Put the search record in the order file: office, date, class, and who reviewed it.
A customs recordation system, and any claim that recordation will stop goods at a border, was not confirmed on an English official page during this check, so it is left out. Use the trademark offices above, and ask counsel before you rely on a border measure.
Do the search again if the name changes by even one word, or if you add a country. A result for the old name in one register is not a result for the new name in another. File each result separately so the order record shows what you actually checked. If the office's page is slow or down, note that and try again. Do not fill the gap with a supplier's written say-so.
Pitfalls
- Approving print because a supplier said the name was free.
- Searching only the home-country office and assuming China, or the EU, follows that result.
- Treating an NNN signature as a trademark.
- Editing a logo just enough to feel different, without a fresh search. This page will not coach that edit.
- Throwing away the search. Six months later you will not remember the class you used.
Put the name and the markets on the RFQ before packaging is approved. Brand work on a supplier's product can start at private label. The sample itself still has to move, which is samples and trial orders.
Frequently asked questions
Does a search mean I am free to use the name?
No. It is a record of what the databases showed on that date. Similar marks, unregistered rights, and filings that were not yet on the database are outside what a self-search proves. Counsel reads conflicts. This page does not.
The supplier has a certificate. Is that enough?
Read whose name is on it. Then search yourself, in the class you will sell. A certificate in someone else's name is not your clearance.
Should I search China even if I will not sell there?
If the goods are made there and the mark will be printed there, a China register is one of the places a conflict can already exist. The China Trademark Office page is the entry. Whether you must file is a question for counsel, not for this article.
The production file next to this one is starting a private label from China, tooling and mold ownership, Amazon Brand Registry, and Amazon private label.
Official sources
- China Trademark Office and CNIPA English trademark pages. Checked November 10, 2026.
- USPTO trademark search. Checked November 10, 2026.
- EUIPO trade marks and WIPO Global Brand Database. Checked November 10, 2026.
This is not legal advice. A customs intellectual-property recordation URL was not verified on November 10, 2026, so it is not described.
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