Tasmanian businesses are being urged to get their heads around Chinese intellectual property law after a local organic skincare brand was stolen in China.

Hobart-based Natraganics had to buy back its brand Avado after a former Chinese distributor secretly registered it.

Natraganics owner Tammy Fenner is spending tens of thousands of dollars getting back the Avado brand.

Ms Fenner said she became aware her first distributor in China had registered her brand there only when she took on a new Chinese partner.

After success in the Hong Kong market, she had struck a deal in 2010 with a Chinese distributor and sent a shipment of Avado organic skincare products to be sold in China.

Two years later when a new Chinese partner tried to register the brand, she found out they had been beaten to it.

"The fact that [the original distributor] registered our brand and trademarked our brand name in China meant that we could not trade with that particular brand in China," she said.

"We were quite devastated... it meant we couldn't go into the Chinese market full stop, it was pretty horrific."

She said she was left with no option but to buy back her own brand if she wanted to continue selling the skin care products into China.

"Luckily our new distributor was really, really helpful and he put us in touch with a Chinese lawyer and we just started negotiating with our previous distributor as to how we would successfully get our trademark back," Ms Fenner said.

"We came to a deal...[where] we pay a percentage of our sales until we reach our agreed prices, and then once that's reached, our trademark gets handed back."

Businesses warned of trading traps

Earlier this month, Victorian fresh milk brand Farmer Brown was stolen and registered in China before the products were even produced.

Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry trade specialist Sally Chandler has urged businesses to register their brands if they were planning to export to China.

Ms Chandler also warned registration could take more than a year.

"China has a first-to-file rule, so if you're not first to file in China then you've lost control of your trademark in China," she said.

There are also concerns that Tasmanian businesses are increasingly being approached by Chinese people who want to sell their products on new websites in China.

Ms Chandler said some of her clients were being approached weekly by "opportunists" working for websites, seizing on Tasmania's natural brand.

"It can be international students... that have previously studied in Tasmania, it can be students who have studied on the mainland of Australia who have seen all of the hype surrounding Tasmania," she said.

"But also it can be opportunists in China who want to jump on the bandwagon.

"My advice to all my clients is to get payment upfront, not to let those goods go to any of those websites without payment upfront.

"But ultimately my advice is not to deal with them at all."

She said as well as risks of intellectual property theft, a lack of product quality control was a concern.

Ms Chandler said it was particularly important to deal with these issues as businesses rushed to crack the Chinese market.

"I believe there's a certain rush, and I think in part that was caused by the visit to Tasmania 12 months ago now of President Xi Jin Ping," she said.

"They really do need to be careful, because often they're not aware of intellectual property issues in China."

China is Tasmania's largest export market worth $610 million to the state.