After Zhangxue Moto won the WSBK championship, what came knocking was not only orders, but also a trademark problem planted long before. Back in May 2025, a lubricant company in Wuxi filed the "Zhangxue Moto" mark in Class 1, "chemical products," designating it for drive fluid, brake fluid and other motorcycle maintenance consumables. A Foshan-based company then followed up in Class 39, "transport and storage," covering racing-car rental, vehicle sharing and similar services.

Neither class has anything to do with complete motorcycles.

Three Layers of Betting Behind the Squatting

Lu Zhenying, a lawyer at Jinhboda Law Firm, broke down the logic: both companies deliberately avoided Class 12, the core category for complete motorcycles. "Zhangxue Moto currently sells complete bikes, and will very likely launch original maintenance and care products later, building a service ecosystem around the vehicle," she said. Class 1 consumables and Class 39 services sit precisely on the path of the brand's natural extension. That is the first layer: betting on where your future lies.

The second layer is the transfer premium. The official filing fee for a registered trademark runs from a few hundred to a few thousand yuan per mark, but the buyback price "could be in the range of several hundred thousand to several million yuan." A few hundred yuan wagered against hundreds of thousands: the odds themselves make it a business.

The third layer is the most concealed: betting that you will not push back. Lu points out that many companies find filing an opposition or pursuing invalidation cumbersome and prefer to pay their way out of trouble. "Once the mark is squatted or approved, it's safe — that is a misconception."

One fact that is easily misread needs clarification: Zhangxue Moto never lost its Chinese word mark for complete motorcycles. The company was established in April 2024 and filed in Class 12, "vehicles," within half a month; the mark was approved in October 2024, five months before the brand launch event. The "streaking" Zhang Xue referred to lies in the English identifier "ZXMOTO" and in the upstream and downstream categories of consumables and services. Yet precisely these gaps are what squatters see as opportunity.

Legally, This "Investment" Is Likely to Lose

The second half of Article 32 of the Trademark Law has two core elements: the squatted mark must have been used earlier by another party before the filing date and must have "a certain influence," and the squatter must have adopted improper means. Zhangxue Moto was established in April 2024, so by the time the Wuxi company squatted in May 2025, it had been in actual use for nearly a year; the WSBK title in March 2026 further strengthened its influence. The Wuxi company also filed a similar mark the same year for "KOVE MOTO," Zhang Xue's previous company, making subjective bad faith fairly evident.

Developments seem to bear this out: after the Wuxi filing was opposed, the other party filed no response, and the agency said it "should be rejected." The Foshan company's registered Class 39 mark is now in invalidation review. Squatters assume that once approved, the mark is safely in the bag — but approval is the starting point of the confirmation procedure, not the end. Within five years from the date of registration, prior rights holders may request invalidation.

The Real Cost Gap Is Not the Fee, but the Window

On paper, the official opposition fee is 450 yuan per class and the invalidation fee 675 yuan per class, making opposition roughly 67% of the invalidation cost, with a review period about six months shorter. But the real price is not money; it is the time window. The opposition period lasts only three months from the date of preliminary approval publication. Miss it, and the only route is invalidation, with a higher evidentiary threshold and a longer cycle — while the other party's registration certificate remains valid for use and transfer throughout. For a brand rolling out channels, negotiating financing and preparing to go overseas, every year of delay takes another bite out of brand value in the valuation.

Zhangxue Moto's ability to get its core marks back this time did not rest on application materials alone. The track exposure, media records and prior-use facts generated by the WSBK title formed a complete evidence chain; the Chongqing Intellectual Property Office subsequently launched a "bureau-district linkage" mechanism and connected full-chain IP services covering trademarks and patents. Not every entrepreneur can wait for a world championship.

Action Checklist for Entrepreneurs

Before a product hits the market, core categories and key related categories should be locked in simultaneously. Core categories are your main products; related categories are your consumables, accessories and service ecosystem. For motorcycles, Class 12 is the complete vehicle, while Class 1 for drive fluid and brake fluid and Class 39 for racing rental and sharing are all unavoidable paths of brand extension. Defensive filing need not blindly cover all classes, but wherever your brand story already points, your trademark filings should get there first.

A trademark is not "a certificate to be added after you get famous." It is a precondition for brand assets to be priced, invested in and taken overseas. Where there is a gap in the name, that line item in the valuation gets discounted. Squatters bet that you will not push back; the one certainty you should never give them is exactly that.