A foreign brand owner facing counterfeits on Chinese e-commerce platforms has three tools: platform takedowns, administrative raids by market regulators or the police, and civil litigation for damages. Takedowns deal with volume, raids deal with the source, and lawsuits create cost and leverage. All three depend on one thing many foreign brands do not have: rights registered in mainland China.
Getting the listings removed is the obvious first step, and on its own it rarely solves anything. What matters is where the goods are coming from. Removing links without touching the factory or warehouse behind them is whack-a-mole: the same stock reappears next week under a new shop name. A programme that works uses takedowns to clear the market and gather intelligence, and saves raids and lawsuits for the sources and the largest sellers.
First, do you have rights in China?
Chinese platforms act on Chinese rights. To file a complaint through Alibaba's IP Protection Platform, JD, Pinduoduo or Douyin, you will generally need a trademark registration certificate issued in mainland China, or a Chinese copyright or design patent, together with company documents and an authorisation for your agent. A US, EU or Taiwan registration, however strong at home, is rarely enough on its own.
This is where many foreign brands discover a gap: the English mark is registered in China, but the Chinese-language name that consumers actually search for is not, or it is registered in the wrong class, or someone else registered it first. Fix that before building an enforcement programme, because every later step depends on it. See our guides on protecting a brand before entering China and what to do if your trademark was registered by someone else. Registering the copyright in your product photos and packaging artwork is also inexpensive and often speeds up takedowns of listings that copy your images.
Platform takedowns: fast, cheap, and easy to undo
Under the E-Commerce Law, a platform that receives a qualified notice of infringement must take necessary measures, such as removing or blocking the listing, and forward the notice to the seller (Art. 42). The seller may then submit a declaration that it does not infringe. The platform forwards that declaration to you, and if it is not told within 15 days that you have filed a complaint with the authorities or a lawsuit, it must restore the listing (Art. 43).
That 15-day rule is the part foreign brands tend to overlook. A takedown programme that has no budget or plan for follow-up action will see its most determined counterfeiters come straight back. The notice also carries responsibility: a notice that turns out to be wrong makes the sender liable for the seller's losses, and a malicious one can lead to double damages (Art. 42). The Supreme People's Court's 2020 guidance lists forged documents and repeated inaccurate notices as signs of bad faith.
Our view: run takedowns in organised batches with test purchases for the most important listings, keep a record of seller names, addresses, phone numbers and shipping origins, and treat each takedown as intelligence about the supply chain rather than as the end of the matter.
Administrative raids and criminal referral: going after the source
Once you know where the goods are made or stored, a complaint to the local market regulation authority can lead to a raid on the factory or warehouse. The authority can seize and destroy counterfeit goods and the tools used to make them and impose fines; where the illegal turnover is RMB 50,000 or more, the fine can be up to five times the turnover (Trademark Law, Art. 60). Raids are relatively quick and inexpensive, but they do not award compensation to the brand owner.
Larger operations can cross the criminal threshold. Under the 2025 joint interpretation of the Supreme People's Court and Supreme People's Procuratorate, counterfeiting a registered trademark is generally regarded as "serious" and therefore criminal where illegal gains reach RMB 30,000 or illegal business turnover reaches RMB 50,000, with lower thresholds where several marks are counterfeited. Criminal cases are handled by the police, and the interpretation encourages leniency where the offender compensates the rights holder and obtains its forgiveness, which in practice often gives the brand owner a real route to compensation.
The work that makes raids succeed is investigation: identifying the actual premises, confirming that stock is present, and timing the complaint. This is where most of the budget in a serious enforcement programme should go.
Civil litigation: damages and deterrence
A lawsuit is slower, but it is the only route that pays the brand owner directly and can be aimed at the biggest players. Damages are based on your losses, the infringer's profits or a multiple of a reasonable licence fee; where these cannot be determined, the court may award up to RMB 5 million. For intentional infringement in serious cases, punitive damages of up to five times the base amount are available (Art. 63). Courts can also order preservation measures, including freezing the defendant's assets and, in urgent cases, stopping the infringing sales before judgment. Notarised test purchases are the standard way to prove sales.
Suing the platform itself rarely succeeds unless it failed to act after a proper notice or clearly knew of the infringement. The better targets are the manufacturers, wholesalers and high-volume sellers identified through the takedown and investigation work.
Two approaches waste money: suing dozens of small sellers one by one, or sending large volumes of unverified takedown notices in the hope that some stick. The first is expensive for little return; the second creates liability and damages your credibility with the platform.
Frequently asked questions
- How do I report counterfeits on Taobao or Tmall? Through Alibaba's IP Protection Platform, using a mainland China trademark, copyright or patent certificate and your company documents. JD, Pinduoduo and Douyin have their own complaint systems with similar requirements.
- Can I use my foreign trademark registration to take down listings in China? Usually not. Platforms generally require rights registered in mainland China, so register your mark, including its Chinese-language name, in the relevant classes.
- Why do removed listings come back? Often because the seller filed a non-infringement declaration and the brand owner did not file a complaint or lawsuit within 15 days, or because the same goods are relisted under a new shop.
- When does counterfeiting become a crime in China? Generally when illegal gains reach RMB 30,000 or illegal business turnover reaches RMB 50,000 under the 2025 judicial interpretation, with lower thresholds where multiple marks are involved.
Related service: China Trademark Protection ↗
Take down the listings. Go after the source.
We can review your Chinese rights, set up a takedown programme, coordinate investigation and administrative or criminal referrals, and bring civil claims against the manufacturers and major sellers behind the counterfeits.
Related Reading
- Someone Registered My Trademark in China: What Can I Do?
- How to Register Your Trademark in China: Chinese Brand Name, Subclasses and Timing
- How to Freeze a Chinese Company's Assets Before You Sue: Property Preservation in China
This article is general information about PRC law as of 28 September 2026 and does not constitute legal advice. Platform rules, enforcement practice and criminal thresholds should be checked for each matter, and the revised Trademark Law takes effect on 1 January 2027.