Before filing the trademark application, it is recommended to conduct a trademark search first to exclude the refusal risk before filing. How to conduct a trademark search? You may refer to my article Guide to search Chinese trademark on CNIPA.
 
The first step, you need to prepare the following information and documents first.
 

• Trademark Logo, if you don’t want to claim color as a feature for this trademark, you should prepare the logo in black and white. There is no wordmark in China, so even if the trademark only has a text, you should also prepare a sample.

• Identification document of the applicant, i.e. certificate of incorporation or other official documents to show the registry of a company, or passport/ ID card/driver license for a natural person.

• Class and classification, it is the core of a trademark application, and it decides what products/services the trademark protects. You may refer to my article How to identify goods/services items for your application to choose the right classification for your application.

• Power of attorney, according to the Chinese trademark law Article 18, a foreigner or foreign enterprise shall entrust a trademark agency established according to the law for applying for trademark registration and handling other trademark-related matters in China. Hence, it would help if you found a Chinses trademark attorney to help you file this application, then he will send you this document to sign. But if you are a citizen of China, you may go to the trademark office to submit the application directly, and no need to prepare a power of attorney.

 
The second step is to apply. The application may be filed either online or offline, and it depends on the goods/services items you selected. The online filing is only available when you choose the standard items in the Chinese classification table as well as the acceptable non-standard items included in the CNIPA database. But for some companies whose name consists of a special symbol, which cannot be recognized by the online filing system. You can only file offline although you choose the standard items. For example, the double question marks are common in a Russian company name.
 
After filing the applications, an official filing receipt notice carrying the application number and application date would be issued in around one month, and you may also retrieve the trademark records on CNIPA database.
 
For any questions regarding the trademark prosecution, please feel free to contact us via Email.