When applying to register trademarks in China, it is not uncommon for brands to have their applications denied because of a similar trademark that has a prior right. This prior right may be an existing registration, or a pending application to register that was filed at an earlier date than yours. What to do if your brand finds itself in that situation?
A number of Chinese trademark law firms have of late been trying to drum up American clients on China trademark matters. I say this because my firm's China trademark lawyers have been getting a steady stream of emails from U.S. lawyers and companies contacted by these Chinese trademark law firms. The Chinese law firms are writing to U.S. lawyers and companies to alert them of trademark filings in China of the same trademarks owned by the company in the United States. These emails from the Chinese trademark attorneys to U.S. trademark attorneys usually go as follows:
A startup U.S. consumer product company with an ultra-hot new product line wrote one of my law firm's international lawyers asking what they should do to sell their product through a Chinese company that had expressed interest in being the U.S. company's "Chinese representative." After a few emails on various different legal subjects, our international lawyer wrote the following email (modified a bit) that provides such good and basic business advice that I wanted to share it here.
Whenever my law firm is retained to represent a company that is looking to provide goods or services to a new overseas buyer. China, one of the first things we want to know are the payment terms. If our client is going to get 100% payment before it provides thegoods or services, a written contract may not even be necessary. The old expression about posession being nine tenths of the law holds true, though I'd probably update it to say that it's 99 percent of the law when it comes to selling to many emerging market countries.
Our international litigators have lately been getting more than the usual number of emails/phone calls from companies (mostly American and European) wanting to pursue litigation against their Chinese manufacturers for bad product. In this post we explain one relatively easy way to reduce your bad product risks.
Many (most?) manufacturers are in the middle of a perfect storm of challenges that make it very difficult for them to calculate how much to manufacture (or order), how long it may take for goods to arrive, and how much consumers are likely to buy.
This very long post aims to provide an overview of the challenges of manufacturing in China, as well as strategies for minimizing risks and maximizing opportunities. It outlines the administrative and regulatory requirements, process and production challenges, and specific cultural and market-specific risks.
Small- and medium-sized companies have smaller toolboxes than large manufacturers when it comes to de-risking their supply chains, but even the big players have endured plenty of pain over the past few years. Multinational behemoths including Toyota, Apple and Sony have struggled to meet customer demand for their products, and in many cases, semiconductor shortages
Uyghurs for sale is the title of a landmark Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) report on the transfer programs that have seen workers from Xinjiang taken to other Chinese provinces to work as forced laborers. Is Uyghurs for export the next phase? Labor transfer programs have been a critical component of Beijing’s Xinjiang policy, and
The key to getting good products from your overseas manufacturers is, choosing a good manufacturer, using a good manufacturing agreement, having good IP protection, and employing a good quality control system.
