Best Practices for Brand Protection in China

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overview

The rapid growth in e-commerce, social media, and web content activity in China has turned the country into a dominant force in the global digital economy. However, the fast pace of development has also increased the risk of serious threats, such as counterfeiting, phishing, cybersquatting, parallel imports, unfair competition, and other types of infringement. Here, we explain how Thomsen Trampedach, Questel’s center of excellence for online brand protection, helps clients achieve their goals for intellectual property protection and brand monitoring in China.

Online brand protection can be challenging to achieve in every market, but China poses unique challenges for brand owners due to its size, script, and fast pace of change. Our online brand protection specialists support brand owners to monitor trademarks and relevant keywords across Chinese marketplaces, social media platforms, and search engine results. Drawing on more than 15 years of expertise, our team of experts on brand protection in China works with clients to tailor a strategy reflecting their needs, focusing on delivering a transparent and efficient solution.

Establishing a Strategy for Brand Protection in China

Step 1: Detection

As part of our online brand protection service, we monitor:

100+ Chinese marketplaces, including mobile-only marketplaces (e.g., Pinduoduo and Weidian).
The largest Chinese social media platforms, including WeChat, Weibo, and Xiaohongshu.
The top 30 results from the results pages of the largest search engines (SERP).
International social media platforms, search engines, and marketplaces for the presence of unlawful activities.

Results are filtered and infringement is proactively identified using human intelligence and specialized subject matter expertise [1].

Step 2: Investigation & Enforcement

Through our web-based case management and take-down brand protection system, our Chinese and Chinese-speaking experts make use of identifiers such as WeChat/QQ IDs, email addresses, images, and usernames to reveal more cases of infringement and collect evidence of abuse on social media platforms. Once the scope of the abuse has been established, our experts use the same case management system (CMS) to send complaints based on Chinese law to the relevant intermediary or content owner.

One centralized system: We store all relevant data related to the case in the CMS. Each ‘case’ includes a URL, investigation notes, suggested actions, a screenshot, the takedown process, and correspondence between the infringer, the client, and our specialist team.
In-built enforcement workflows: The CMS includes premade enforcement mechanisms for 200 + marketplaces.
Proportionate responses: Alongside enforcement activities, we support clients to take an educational approach where bad faith is not evident. This is because many platforms don’t provide the user with the option of filing counter notifications, and the fact that not all internet users have a complete understanding of the law. In these circumstances, you and your legal advisors may find a softer approach has the biggest impact, preserving your goodwill and even providing you with up-selling opportunities.

Brand Monitoring in China and Beyond

Our online brand protection solution covers apps, domain names, marketplaces, paid ads, social media, and web content across the globe, so you can target activity and budget where you need it most.

In the last two years, we have notified over 250 hosting providers and 450 registrars across the world in a variety of different languages, adapting our notifications to local laws and regulations.

Find out more

Frequently Asked Questions About Web Content Monitoring

What Is the IP Infringement Risk in China?

IP infringement in China is a longstanding concern for many companies. With the rapidly changing online environment and new technologies, novel issues emerge. Alongside counterfeiting on e-commerce marketplaces, we are increasingly observing that social media and social shopping platforms are being used to conduct illicit sales or create confusion among consumers.

A well-tailored multi-dimensional, proactive, and preventive strategy must be implemented, therefore, to minimize risks and protect from online abuse, whether it is counterfeiting, cybersquatting, impersonation, or unauthorized use of your brand.

How Do I Achieve Brand Protection in China?

While every brand requires its own brand protection strategy, there are three golden rules you should apply to make sure your IP is well protected from counterfeiters, cybersquatters, fraudsters, and other abusers in China:

1- Secure and enforce your rights:
Whether you are a big international brand or a small label, it is necessary to prevent others from taking advantage of your name. Make sure to register your rights, including a Chinese name as well, and enforce them as soon as possible.

2- Keep your eyes open:
The pace of development in the Chinese market is faster than what we are used to in the West. Infringers are quick to adapt to changes in the market and alter their strategies for bigger gains. Hence, you should keep your eyes open and actively adapt your strategy in line with new trends.

3- Outsmart the infringers and minimize risk:
Make sure that you are present in places where your IP rights are being infringed or local consumers mostly seek you. Set up official channels on key social media platforms and marketplaces for your brand (we can help you with deciding where it would be most efficient).

What Is Included in the ‘Brand Monitoring China’ Service?

This module is part of our online brand protection service and is tailored individually for every client to ensure that your brand is well protected from abuse in China. We offer a multi-dimensional approach to brand monitoring in China that encompasses all four components of the Chinese Web: web content, social media, marketplaces (including mobile-only marketplaces like Weidian, Pinduoduo, Youzan, etc., and app stores), as well as domain names.

We monitor your brand name in Chinese script or other common Chinese keywords related to your brand to detect and remove all kinds of abuse from impersonations to counterfeits.

For instance, if your rights are violated mainly across Chinese social media, like Weibo, WeChat, or Douyin, that is where we will put our focus on actively monitoring and protecting your brand. In addition, we will also look out for potential threats and suggest prevention methods—for example, setting up an official presence on social media platforms, official shops on online marketplaces, online brand protection platforms (e.g., WeChat Brand Protection Platform), or changing your monitoring focus and scope where new issues occur.

Three More Reasons to Choose Questel for Brand Protection in China

Here are three more ways we add value for our online brand protection clients:

1. Our team will suggest the opening of online stores on platforms where your IP rights are being abused to educate Chinese consumers and increase your sales.
2. We will suggest and register Chinese domain names across all TLDs (.cn and .中国), as well as all new Chinese gTLDs.
3. Our brand monitoring specialists can register usernames across Chinese social media sites, as well as IPP platforms such as the WeChat Brand Protection Platform.

Meet Our Partner for Offline Intellectual Property Protection in China

Thomsen Trampedach, our center of excellence for online brand protection, partners with PSU China to support clients with local intellectual property protection, offline investigations, and onsite operational support.

PSU China is experienced in the localization of counterfeit-producing factories and the collection of notarized evidence (such as test purchases).

This partnership enables us to offer a complete brand protection solution in China, including monitoring, analyzing, and enforcing online abuse. In severe cases of counterfeit distribution, we evaluate with clients and PSU China whether additional on-the-ground investigations could be of interest before alerting the infringer with a take-down notice. This way we can truly get to the root of the problem.

Interested in Finding Out More About Our Website Content Monitoring Module?

We help dozens of brands with monitoring and removal of infringements on Chinese marketplaces, social media platforms, and websites. Contact us for a demo of our solution or sign up now for a 3-month trial of our online brand protection service.

[1] Questel does not provide any legal services. Legal services are provided by independent IP attorneys on the basis of a separate engagement agreement between you and, if you wish to, a partner IP attorneys firm.