A Chinese Company Uses Your Brand as Its Company Name: What Can You Do?

"Our company name was approved by the registration authority." That was the first line of the defence. Most brand owners hear the same line when a Chinese business builds its company name around their mark. The registration certificate looks official. It still gives no right to use someone else's brand.

I acted for the brand owner. It ran a chain of consumer service outlets under a registered word mark and logo mark. The court found both trademark infringement and unfair competition. It ordered the local company and its sole shareholder to pay damages together. For overseas brands, I handle trademark enforcement in China, from the evidence to the court.

What happened

A local company was set up in another region to offer the same kind of service. It put the brand owner's word mark into its company name. It then used that word, with a similar logo, in four places:

• its shop sign;
• its online booking page;
• its short-video account;
• its group-buying listings.

Archived web pages and sales records showed the two businesses served the same kind of customers with the same kind of services.

After a demand letter, the company changed some pages. It kept taking bookings under the old name. During the lawsuit, it changed its registered name and took down the main online uses. At that point, the brand owner dropped its requests to stop use and change the name. It kept the claim for damages and costs. It also asked the court to hold the sole shareholder liable with the company.

What the other side argued

The defence had four parts. The word was a common expression. The company name had been lawfully approved. The brand owner's licence fees and advertising costs did not prove its loss in this case. And once the name had changed, there was nothing left to stop. The shareholder added a personal defence. Company debts belong to the company.

How the court dealt with it

The sign, the booking page and the listings were trademark use. On each one, the word and logo sat in the most visible spot. That is where customers look to see who provides the service. The marks were very close. The services and customers overlapped a lot. So the public was likely to think the local business was a licensee or franchisee.

A registered company name does not protect this kind of use. The company put a competitor's mark at the core of its name, in the same trade. It then made the link stronger across signs and apps. That went beyond normal use of an approved name. The court treated it as confusing conduct.

Changing the name stopped future harm, and the past still had to be paid for. The company was still liable for the period it had traded under the brand.

Damages were set by the court. The brand owner could not prove its actual loss or the other side's profit. Its licence documents covered different territories, terms and scope. So they could not be used as a benchmark. The court set damages by weighing several things:

• the mark's reputation;
• how and where it was used;
• the size of the business and how long it ran;
• the fact that the company had corrected course;
• reasonable costs.

The sole shareholder was liable with the company. The shareholder gave no audit or other evidence that personal assets were kept separate from the company's.

The rule behind it

Three rules did the work.

• Trademark infringement. Using a mark similar to a registered mark on the same or similar services infringes the registration if confusion is likely (Trademark Law art. 57(2); art. 72(2) of the revised Trademark Law (in Chinese) in force from 1 January 2027).
• Trade names. A company that puts someone else's registered mark into its name without permission takes a risk. If that leads people to think the two are connected, it is confusing conduct under the Anti-Unfair Competition Law (in Chinese) (art. 7, as revised in 2025).
• One-person companies. Some companies have only one shareholder. If that shareholder can't prove the company's assets are separate from their own, the shareholder is jointly liable for the company's debts (Company Law (in Chinese) art. 23, para. 3).

What this means if your brand turns up in a Chinese company name

1. Check the registration, then check the use. A company name on the register is a starting point. In court, what matters is how the name is shown to customers. Look at signs, app listings, packaging and social accounts.
2. Capture everything before you send a letter. In this case, the other side edited pages after the demand letter. Before any contact, get notarised captures of signs, booking pages and listings. A notary records what was on the page and when. Those captures let a court see the full picture later.
3. Look at who owns the company. Many small Chinese businesses have a single shareholder. If that shareholder can't show the assets were kept separate, the claim can reach them personally. That changes the settlement talks.
4. Build your damages evidence early. Courts won't just adopt your licence fees if the licences are for a different territory or term. Evidence of how big the other side's business is, what it charges and how long it has run helps more. A large number in the claim helps less.
5. A name change is progress. Once the other side changes its name, you can narrow the case to damages and costs. That usually shortens the proceedings.

Part of my guide to trademark protection in China.

Has your brand turned up in China under someone else's name? Send me what you have found. I will tell you which route fits. Discuss a brand conflict in China →

This article is based on matters I handled. Names, products, places, dates, amounts, quantities and other identifying details have been removed or changed, and some facts have been combined. It describes how one court dealt with one set of facts. It doesn't predict the result in any other case.