If you already file internationally, the Madrid route looks like the obvious answer: one form, one currency, one renewal date, China included. Most of the time it is a reasonable choice. But the two routes are not equivalent, and the differences show up at the worst possible moment — when an examiner in Beijing has issued a refusal and the clock is running.
How Madrid actually works into China
China has been a Madrid Protocol member since 1989. You file an international application through your home office, based on a home application or registration, and designate China. WIPO forwards the designation to CNIPA, which examines it as if it were a national application and either grants protection or issues a provisional refusal.
Three mechanics matter more than the brochure suggests:
- The goods list is fixed at filing. A Madrid designation can only be narrowed later, never broadened. Whatever you wrote at home — often in your own national wording — is what China examines.
- CNIPA usually has 18 months to examine, and can notify a longer period. In practice a Madrid designation into China takes longer than a direct filing, not shorter.
- A refusal is addressed to you, via WIPO, with a short response deadline. If no Chinese agency is on record, nobody is positioned to answer it, and the designation quietly lapses.
How a direct filing works
A direct application is lodged with CNIPA by a Chinese-registered agency, in Chinese, with a goods list drafted against the Chinese classification. One application covers one class. You can claim a six-month Paris priority from an earlier filing elsewhere.
It is administratively more work: a power of attorney, a translated incorporation document, a separate filing and fee per class, and separate renewals. In exchange you get control.
Side by side
| Madrid designation | Direct CNIPA filing | |
|---|---|---|
| Official cost | Lower, especially across multiple classes | RMB 270 per class, plus RMB 27 per item over ten |
| Goods list | Inherited from the home filing; can only be narrowed | Drafted for China from scratch |
| Examination time | Up to 18 months, often longer in practice | Typically 3–4 months end to end |
| Dependency | Five-year central attack risk | Independent from day one |
| Refusal handling | Needs a Chinese agent appointed in advance; deadline is short | Agent already on record and monitoring |
| Certificate | Statement of protection via WIPO | CNIPA registration certificate |
| Renewal | One renewal for the whole international registration | Separate per registration, ten-year cycles |
| Assignment and recordal | Through WIPO, then notified to China | Directly at CNIPA |
| Best for | Broad multi-country portfolios, simple word marks, goods list already China-compatible | China as a priority market, complex goods lists, brands needing certainty |
When Madrid is the right call
- China is one of eight or ten designations in a single commercial push, and administrative simplicity outweighs timing;
- Your goods list is straightforward and already uses internationally accepted wording;
- You have a Madrid representative who will appoint a Chinese agent now, not after a refusal arrives;
- The mark is a plain word mark with no Chinese-character element to coordinate.
When a direct filing wins
- China is the market, not a line item. You want the earliest possible certainty.
- You sell in unusual categories — software-as-a-service, mixed retail, food supplements — where the Chinese classification needs careful drafting.
- You are also filing the Chinese-character mark, which a Madrid designation cannot easily carry alongside the English one.
- You need the certificate for a platform brand registry, a customs recordal or a licensing deal.
- Your home mark is not yet stable — a pending application that could still be refused is a poor foundation for a five-year dependent right.
The hybrid most sophisticated brands use
They are not mutually exclusive. A common pattern:
- Direct filing in China for the core classes and the Chinese-character mark, treated as the primary asset;
- Madrid designations for the surrounding markets where administrative convenience matters more than a few months;
- Paris priority used to pull the Chinese filing date back to the home filing date when the two are within six months.
The result is one date to protect, one agent who knows the file, and no dependency on a home mark you may later restructure.
If a provisional refusal arrives
This is where the two routes diverge most sharply in cost, and it is worth understanding before you choose.
A provisional refusal is not a rejection. It is CNIPA saying "we have an objection, respond". The usual grounds are an earlier similar mark, a lack of distinctiveness, or goods wording that does not fit the Chinese classification. You can respond with arguments, with a limitation of the goods list, with a coexistence agreement, or with a parallel cancellation against the blocking mark.
The deadline is counted in days, not months, from receipt. Two consequences:
- Under Madrid, the notice travels through WIPO and your home representative. Every hop costs days. By the time it reaches someone who can act, the window may be half gone.
- Under a direct filing, the agent who filed is the agent who is notified, and the response is drafted in Chinese by the same team that drafted the application.
Before you choose, answer four questions
- Is China a market or an afterthought? A market gets a direct filing.
- Does your goods list read like the Chinese classification? If not, a direct filing saves you an office action.
- Are you registering a Chinese-character mark too? That pushes toward direct filing.
- Who will open the mail from WIPO? If the answer is "our foreign attorney, eventually", appoint a Chinese agent now.
If you are unsure, the cheapest diagnostic is a search. Send us the mark and the classes; we will tell you whether the goods list you plan to designate is likely to be accepted in China, and whether the route you have chosen is going to cost you a refusal.
Not sure where your brand stands in China?
Send us your mark and the classes you care about. We run a free CNIPA availability check and come back within 48 hours with a risk rating, the closest citations, and a fixed fee.