Before you hand a Chinese factory your product design and private label, you need an IP checklist: trademark search and filing, design protection, confidentiality and customs recordal. Skipping it is how brands lose their own product to their factory.
The checklist
- Search your brand name in China before you print labels
- File the China trademark in your actual classes before ordering
- File a design patent for the product and packaging
- Put confidentiality and no-extra-run clauses in the production agreement
- Plan customs recordal once the rights are registered
Why the order matters
China is first-to-file, so the trademark should go in before the factory ever sees your label artwork. The design patent should go in before tooling, because a design already in production is harder to protect cleanly.
What a factory can do without rights
An unregistered brand is free to use. An unprotected product design is free to copy. The factory that made your product can legally sell the same design to your competitor unless your rights stop them. That is the whole reason the checklist exists. Send us your product and market and we will give you the specific filing plan before your next PO.
