China trademarks and NNN agreements: protect the brand before manufacturing

Start two workstreams before the factory briefing

A trademark project often starts with a packaging deadline: the logo must be ready, the product needs a name, and a supplier wants production artwork. That deadline is also a useful moment to organise the manufacturing relationship. Put the trademark applicant, supplier identity, artwork versions and planned disclosures on one page so the people handling each part can see the same project.

Our practical recommendation is to open a brand workstream and a supplier-contract workstream together. The first records the mark versions and goods to be protected. The second records the parties, proposed work and materials being shared. Give each an owner and a next decision date. Avoid leaving the contract review until a deposit has already been paid simply because the trademark application was more visible on the launch checklist.

• Brand file: owner, names, logos, goods and countries.
• Supplier file: legal entity, contact, proposed work and information already shared.
• Shared decision: what must be resolved before the next disclosure or payment.

What a China trademark does—and the questions it leaves open

Article 56 of China's Trademark Law ties the exclusive right to the approved mark and approved goods. A registration is therefore not ownership of every aspect of a product. Article 15 also addresses specified unauthorised agent, representative and relationship-based filings, subject to its conditions. Preserve relationship evidence if a supplier-linked filing becomes a concern; that rule does not make a dispute disappear automatically.

For your working file, separate the name printed on a product from the product itself. Keep the logo artwork apart from CAD drawings, packaging dielines, ingredient lists, software and manufacturing instructions. Each asset may raise a different ownership or protection question. Ask the reviewer which items belong in the trademark brief and which need a separate IP or contract review.

CNIPA · Trademark Law (2019), Articles 15, 43 and 56 ↗

What to ask about NNN terms

NNN commonly refers to non-disclosure, non-use and non-circumvention. The useful question is which conduct the proposed agreement actually addresses, by whom and for which project. A document title is not enough to answer that question.

Describe the behaviour you want reviewed in ordinary language: who may see a file, who may use it, and whether someone may approach a named customer without you. Bring this list to the contract reviewer. They can assess suitable wording, exceptions, duration, evidence and enforceability against the actual facts. Do not assume that a standard form or an unusually large damages figure resolves every risk.

• What is the permitted purpose for each disclosure?
• Which people or entities are intended to be bound?
• What evidence would show that an agreed restriction was breached?

Build a disclosure log that a reviewer can use

WIPO explains that trade-secret protection generally depends on secrecy, commercial value arising from secrecy and reasonable protective measures. Merely calling a file confidential does not settle that assessment. A practical project file should make it possible to explain what information existed, why it mattered and how access was managed.

Create a row whenever a material file leaves the team: date, version, recipient, purpose, transfer channel and person who approved release. Use a neutral file name that you can match to an email or message export. Where a link grants access to later revisions, record that too. The aim is a usable history, not an impressive spreadsheet with empty fields.

• Keep an untouched copy of what was actually sent.
• Distinguish public catalogue material from unreleased technical information.
• Record previous disclosures honestly; do not backdate a contract or a confidentiality label.

WIPO · Trade secrets ↗

Make the owner and supplier identities unambiguous

Build a simple party map showing the brand owner, contracting customer, supplier, trading intermediary, proposed manufacturer and payment recipient. These may be different organisations. Ask for the formal legal names and identify how each name appears on the documents you already hold. A friendly sales contact is a point of communication, not a complete description of the contracting structure.

Our suggested review pack includes the company details supplied by the factory, the quotation, draft contract, invoice or pro forma invoice, bank-payment instructions and the correspondence explaining their relationship. Flag mismatches for the reviewer instead of silently editing them into a single name. If your team has not yet decided which group company should own the trademark, resolve that business decision with the filing reviewer.

Revisit the agreement when the commercial project changes

For readers moving from a trademark project into supplier contracting, China IP Gateway's China NNN, OEM and manufacturing agreement service describes support for pre-disclosure agreements and later production arrangements. It is an external service page; use it to discuss the relevant contract scope and engagement terms directly.

Prepare a change list whenever the project advances. What was only a quotation may now involve sample revisions, paid tooling or a recurring purchase order. Record the deliverables, approvals, acceptance criteria, file versions, payment milestones and unresolved questions for each stage. Do not rely on the original email brief to explain a production relationship that has since changed substantially.

• Before sampling: record what is being commissioned and how feedback will be approved.
• Before tooling: identify the items, identifiers, location and planned handover arrangements.
• Before a production order: collect the agreed specification and the latest commercial documents.

Connect the permitted brand use with the supply relationship

Article 43 of China's Trademark Law addresses trademark licensing, including quality-related responsibilities and recordal. Whether a particular supply arrangement involves a licence, and what should be recorded, needs review in its own context. Do not infer the answer solely from the fact that a factory will print your name on a product.

Prepare an artwork approval sheet with a named approver, approved version and intended placement. Record where the supplier proposes to show the product: a quotation, website, catalogue, exhibition or sales presentation. Put any disagreement about those uses in the review pack. This gives the adviser concrete proposed behaviour to assess instead of the vague instruction to 'protect our brand'.

CNIPA · Trademark Law (2019), Articles 15, 43 and 56 ↗

If drawings or brand files have already been shared

Begin with a factual inventory rather than a claim that everything is protected or everything is lost. Save the current messages, attachments and signed documents in their original form. List which recipients are known, which are uncertain, and what new disclosure is being requested. Keep an unresolved question marked unresolved.

Where the concern is an existing supplier filing, retain the trademark record number and dates and use the relevant dispute-review path. Where the concern is misuse of confidential information, WIPO notes that the available protection depends on the applicable law and circumstances, including how the information was obtained. Keep further release decisions under review and seek advice on the evidence you actually have.

• Do not alter a historical message to make it match the current understanding.
• Identify imminent decisions such as a new file release, deposit or shipment.
• Distinguish a commercial disagreement from an official trademark deadline.

WIPO · How to protect trade secrets ↗

Planning example: a kitchen-product brand

Imagine a business preparing a branded kitchen product for overseas sale. It has a word mark, a proposed Chinese name, a packaging layout and a supplier quote for a custom part. The business can prepare the trademark versions and product description while separately asking who will make the custom part, which drawings are required and which commercial terms remain unsettled.

The useful output is a coordinated decision list: settle the applicant and mark versions; have the goods reviewed; verify the supplier structure; review the proposed disclosures and contracts; and record who can approve the next release. A trademark filing receipt should not be used as the internal sign-off for an unrelated tooling payment. This is an editorial planning example, not a client case or a prediction of a legal outcome.

Choose the next review by the problem you need to solve

Use Trademarkora for the trademark preparation path: mark versions, search questions, classification and the proposed countries. If the next decision concerns the China supplier agreement, consult China IP Gateway for a scoped NNN or manufacturing agreement review. Send a concise project outline first and follow the receiving team's instructions for sharing confidential documents.

The two sites provide different entry points. This article does not submit your information to the external site, create a joint engagement or add contract work to a trademark filing package. Confirm who will handle the work, what documents will be reviewed and what the engagement includes. Keep one internal project owner responsible for bringing the resulting decisions together.