Direct answer

Licence the registered China mark in writing; quality control and recordal are the practical guts.

Only the registrant (or an authorised licensor) can grant a China trademark licence. Spell out exclusive, sole or ordinary licence, classes, territory, term, quality control, and whether sublicensing is allowed. Using a mark you do not own — or letting a distributor register it — is how brands lose China. Recordal of the licence with CNIPA is strongly advisable so later assignees and some third parties cannot pretend they never knew. Quality-control failures can hurt the mark. Distributor wiki pages cover shop and inventory; this page is the TM licence layer.

The classification screen

4 questions before you choose the route.

This page identifies the right question and evidence. It does not determine the legal outcome on a reader’s facts.

01

Who owns the China registration?

If the distributor owns it, you are licensing the wrong way round.

Owner
02

Exclusive, sole, or ordinary?

Each has a different effect on your own use and on later licensees.

Type
03

Will you record the licence?

Recordal vs unrecorded is a third-party and evidence issue.

Recordal
04

How is quality controlled?

Samples, audit, and the right to stop use.

Quality

Working rule: Map the regulated role before marketing or launch in China.

What changes the answer

The signal ledger.

These facts move the question beyond a label and into a product, money-flow and control analysis.

Signal
Ask the operating question
Why it changes the route
Distributor-owned mark
Did the China company register your brand?
Fix ownership before you ‘licence’ them.
Unrecorded exclusive licence
Will a later buyer of the mark honour it?
Recordal is how many exclusive licenses are made opposable.
No quality clause
Can they apply the mark to anything?
Brand and registrability both suffer.
Prepare before you escalate

Bring a compact evidence docket—not a pitch deck.

Give a compliance team or counsel the operating facts that reveal the perimeter.

01RegistrationCNIPA numbers and classes being licensed.
02Licence textType, territory, quality, term, sublicence.
03Recordal statusWhether CNIPA has the licence on file.
04Quality fileSamples, inspections, complaints.
Common confusions

Questions people ask before they build.

Short answers for orientation. The right result can change with the service model and current rules.

Is an unrecorded licence void?

Not necessarily between the parties. Recordal mainly affects third parties and some enforcement/assignment facts. Still record it.

Can we licence a mark we have only applied for?

Risky. You may agree pending-application arrangements, but the registrable right is not yet granted. Do not market it as a granted China TM licence.

Primary authorities

Reviewed sources support orientation, not a fact-specific assessment.

National laws database (NPC)
CNIPA
Supreme People’s Court