Your Own Goods Held at Chinese Customs Because Someone Else Owns Your Brand in China

Chinese customs can hold your own branded goods at export if someone else owns the trademark in China and has recorded it with customs, even though the goods are made to your order for sale abroad. This is no longer a theoretical risk. The Supreme People's Court held in 2019 that putting a mark on goods made in China purely for export can infringe a Chinese registration. The shipment can usually be moved, but each route costs time or money, and the only lasting fix is to take control of the mark in China.

Many overseas brands never register in China because they do not sell there. That made a kind of sense when Chinese courts treated export-only manufacturing as falling outside trademark infringement. It makes much less sense now, and squatters know it: a registration plus a customs recordal turns every export of your product into a negotiation.

How did this become a customs problem?

The question is whether making goods in China under a foreign buyer's mark, for export only, is "use" of a trademark in China. In the PRETUL case the Supreme People's Court said no: the mark identified nothing to Chinese consumers, so there was no use in the trademark sense and no infringement. Exporters and foreign brands relied on that for years.

In the Honda case in 2019 the Supreme People's Court took a different view. It held that export-only manufacturing should not be treated as automatically outside infringement, that affixing the mark can be trademark use, and that the analysis depends on the facts, including the likelihood of confusion. Lower courts have since applied infringement analysis to export manufacturing. The result is that a Chinese registration holder now has a plausible basis to ask customs to stop your exports, and customs, faced with a recorded mark and identical goods, will often hold them and leave the legal question to the parties.

First, the shipment

When customs suspends clearance at the squatter's request, your factory or forwarder, as the consignor, will be asked to explain. The Regulations allow release where the consignor has sufficient evidence that the goods do not infringe. Put together, quickly: your registrations abroad and evidence of earlier use of the brand, the purchase order showing that the goods are made to your order for export, and anything showing the squatter's bad faith, such as a past business relationship or a pattern of filings copying foreign brands.

Be realistic. Customs is not a court and will not invalidate a registration. If it cannot decide within 30 working days of detention, the squatter needs a court order within 50 working days to keep the goods held. Many squatters never go to court; the detention itself is the leverage. That is why the timetable matters: if the squatter has no court order on day 50, the goods are released.

If the goods cannot wait, there are commercial options. Exporting unbranded goods and applying labels in the destination market avoids the Chinese mark entirely, at a cost. A short-term licence from the squatter moves the shipment and starts a conversation about buying the mark. Both are worth pricing against the cost of waiting.

Then, the mark

The lasting solution is to take the mark back. A registration filed in bad faith can be invalidated. Under the Trademark Law, an agent or representative that registers its principal's mark, or a party that knew of the mark through a business relationship, can be challenged, and a registration obtained by unfair means or filed without intent to use can be declared invalid. Time limits apply to some grounds, five years from registration unless the registrant acted in bad faith toward a well-known mark, so check the dates now. A mark not used in China for three consecutive years can also be cancelled for non-use, which is often the quickest route against a squatter that only files.

Buying the mark is sometimes the cheapest answer, and we do not dismiss it. Our view is that you should open the invalidation or cancellation first, or at least prepare it, so that you negotiate from a position where the squatter knows the registration is at risk.

See our article on trademark squatting in China for how each route works.

What we would not do

We would not tell the factory to relabel the shipment as something else and try again. If the goods still bear the mark or a confusingly similar one, the second attempt is more likely to be treated as deliberate. We would not pay a squatter for a "licence" that does not cover future shipments or that leaves the registration in place without a path to assignment. And we would not assume the problem is over once one shipment is released. A recorded mark stays recorded for ten years.

Frequently asked questions

• Can Chinese customs really stop goods made only for export? Yes, if a recorded Chinese right is involved. Since the Supreme People's Court's 2019 Honda judgment, export-only manufacturing is not automatically outside infringement.
• Can I get the shipment released without going to court? Often, by giving customs evidence of non-infringement and by watching the deadlines: without a court order within 50 working days of detention, customs releases the goods.
• Will a registration abroad help? It helps as evidence of your prior use and the squatter's bad faith. It is not a right customs can enforce in China.
• How do I stop this happening again? Register the mark in China in the classes covering the goods you manufacture there, record it with customs yourself, and list your factories as authorised users.

Related service: Customs IP Recordal ↗

Related Reading

• Someone Registered My Trademark in China: What Can I Do?
• China Customs IP Recordal: Can You Stop Fakes Before They Leave China?
• How to Register Your Trademark in China: Chinese Brand Name, Subclasses and Timing

This article is general information on PRC law as of 9 October 2026 and does not constitute legal advice. The answer in any matter depends on its documents and facts.