Description:
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Firms are used to registering trademarks for intellectual property protection which ultimately increases their innovations. Using a novel data set tracking firm‐level trademark registrations of Chinese listed firms between 2005 and 2017, this article sheds light on the role of a firm's first trademark in its patents and the related provision's implication in the developing world. We implement a difference‐in‐difference model to find approximately a 30% increase in the number of a firm's patents after its first trademark application. Moreover, we take advantage of the latest amendment of China's <jats:italic>Trademark Law</jats:italic> in 2013 as an exogenous shock to investigate the influence of law protection on trademark‐induced innovations. The results suggest a strengthened effect of first trademark applications on patent numbers after the 2013 amendment.</jats:p>