Global Portfolio and Sequencing Questions

Rank by where revenue actually lands and where copying is easiest: your largest marketplace first, then manufacturing or transit jurisdictions, then the markets you plan to open within twelve months. Registration follows sales, not the other way round.

Madrid suits five or more countries and one-bundle renewals; direct filings suit the two or three markets where you need speed, a local certificate and independence from the base right. Most sellers use both at different times.

After a first filing you can claim its date in later countries — six months for designs, twelve months for trademarks and patents. Miss it and each later application stands on its own, later date, and your own intervening launch can destroy novelty.

PCT defers the country decisions to about 30 or 31 months while giving you a search opinion around 16 months. It is the right choice when the market list is still open or when you need evidence of commercial traction before spending on national phases.

Usually yes, if the product is manufactured there. A Chinese registration or design is what stops copies leaving the factory and gives you standing with customs and 1688 suppliers, even when every sale happens elsewhere.

In the entity that will own and enforce the brand, consistently with the marketplace account. Mixed ownership between China and overseas filings is a recurring cause of refused registry enrolment and internal disputes.

Start with one word mark in the main market, a design filing on the hero product, and Brand Registry. Add markets as revenue arrives rather than pre-registering everywhere, since renewal and maintenance costs compound with each registration you keep alive.

Yes — it is the single highest-return timing decision in this field. Filing before disclosure preserves your ability to register designs abroad, strengthens the trademark application, and removes the argument that you adopted the brand after a competitor.