Register in China before your manufacturer does
China is a first-to-file jurisdiction. For African brands sourcing goods there, the most expensive mistake is leaving the mark unregistered at the factory gate.
The pattern repeats with painful regularity. An African brand owner builds a product line manufactured in Guangdong or Zhejiang, trades successfully for 3 or 4 years, then receives a letter: the mark has been registered in China by someone else. Sometimes a stranger. More often, the manufacturer, a former agent, or a distributor who watched the brand grow.
Why filing order decides everything
China allocates trademark rights to the first party to file, not the first to use. Goodwill earned in Nairobi or Lagos counts for very little before the China National Intellectual Property Administration. Once a third party holds the registration, they can block your exports at the Chinese port, demand a licence fee for goods you designed, or sell the registration back to you at a price of their choosing.
Bad-faith filing provisions exist, and the 2019 amendments to China’s Trademark Law strengthened them, but invalidation proceedings are slow, uncertain, and far more expensive than the filing that would have prevented the problem.
The practical sequence
File in China before disclosing the brand to any manufacturer, and file in the Chinese subclasses that matter, because China’s subclass system means a registration can be narrower than it looks. Cover the goods, the retail services if relevant, and any Chinese-character version of the name; if you do not choose a Chinese name, the market will choose one for you, and someone may register it.
Then put the brand into the supply contract. The agreement should state that all IP in the product and its trade dress belongs to you, that the manufacturer may not file marks or designs related to the goods, and that tooling and moulds are yours. A manufacturer who resists those clauses is telling you something useful.
The Madrid Protocol route through a Kenyan base registration can be cost-effective for a portfolio, though direct national filing in China still has procedural advantages in contested cases. Which route fits depends on the brand, and that conversation is shorter and cheaper than an invalidation action.