Short version: most of these emails are a shakedown — but the risk they exploit is real. Here’s how to tell the difference in five minutes, and how to get an honest answer for $129 instead of $999.
Check my brand for real — $129
If a “Chinese trademark agency,” “CN registration authority,” or “IP center” emailed you out of the blue saying another company is about to register your brand and you must respond within a few days — you’re right to be suspicious. It’s one of the most common shakedowns aimed at Western sellers. The classic tells:
Don’t reply, don’t click, and don’t wire anyone $999 on the strength of a cold email.
China is first-to-file: a trademark belongs to whoever registers it first, not whoever built the brand. So a competitor — or your own factory — really can register your brand in China, then record it with Chinese customs and have your own shipments flagged as “counterfeit” and held from leaving the country. A US or EU trademark does nothing about it.
So the scam emailers aren’t inventing the danger — they’re weaponizing a real one you can’t see. Which is exactly why “just ignore it” is only half the advice. Ignore the email. Then actually check the register.
Real sellers, in their own words, on public forums (these are public posts — not our clients):
“Their scam is that they register the trademark in China. If you have your products manufactured in China, they can keep your items from ever leaving China as they now consider your items to be counterfeit.”— seller, r/FulfillmentByAmazon
The Chinese trademark register (CNIPA) is public. You can search it for free and see whether anyone has actually filed your brand — no $999 required. Two honest routes:
A licensed-attorney-reviewed check of whether your brand is exposed in China — and what to do next. Here’s exactly what you get:
If we find no exposure worth reporting, you get a full refund — you paid for peace of mind and got it free. And if you do need to act, your $129 is credited in full toward your protection or rescue. You’re not gambling $129; you’re capping your downside at zero.
Fair question — ask it of anyone in this category, us included. Our answer is a fixed public price, named licensed attorneys, the actual register record in your hands, and your money back if there’s nothing there. Then you decide.
I’d like to introduce myself. Then you can decide whether this is a scam.
I spent 14 years in China and 8 in the US, working across borders as a consultant and entrepreneur — helping international businesses navigate the China black box. (It feels like that sometimes, doesn’t it?)
I built CopycatHunter with my wife — a PRC-licensed lawyer — and our partner attorney team at Beijing DHH Law Firm, to help founders defend the brand and products they’ve poured their heart and soul into.
No one wants their child taken away. We’re here to make sure that never happens to you.
When Chinese IP squatters and copycats try their luck with your brand, our team takes every legal action imaginable to defend you — at a fraction of the cost of big law. Because we genuinely care (and we keep our overhead minimal).
You can email me directly at hzhang835@gmail.com with any question at all — and I’ll reply to you myself.
Your audit’s legal analysis is performed and reviewed by licensed attorneys at Beijing DHH Law Firm — a real, established Chinese firm, not anonymous “agents.” The same attorneys handle your rescue or registration if you decide to act.
No. Don’t reply, don’t click links, and don’t wire anyone money on the strength of a cold email. If there’s a real filing, it’s on the public CNIPA register and you can verify it without the sender. If there isn’t, you’ve lost nothing.
The price is real; the value usually isn’t. These outfits manufacture urgency around a filing that often doesn’t exist, then charge to “block” it. Real attorney work is itemized, named, and verifiable — not a pay-now-or-lose-your-brand ultimatum from an anonymous inbox.
Because we’re the inverse on every axis: one fixed $129 price on the page, named licensed PRC attorneys at Beijing DHH Law Firm, the actual CNIPA record shown to you, and a full refund if we find nothing. Email the founder before you pay if you want a human voice first.
Then we tell you who, rate how exposed you are, and your $129 is credited toward next steps — opposition, bad-faith cancellation, or getting your own registration in first, handled by licensed PRC attorneys. We won’t promise a guaranteed win (anyone who does is the scam); we’ll tell you honestly what’s realistic for your case.
48 hours. A licensed-attorney-reviewed read on whether your brand is actually exposed in China. Full refund if we find nothing.
Check my brand for real — $129