China product development is fraught with risks. This post explains the two main product development models employed by Chinese companies and explains the advantages and disadvantages of both. I am writing about product development here because in my experience and that of my company, the product development stage is both the easiest and mostly likely time for your Chinese counterparty to run off with your IP or even your product.
China presents a wealth of opportunities for foreign gaming companies, but (and this is true of pretty much every IP-laden industry), it also presents substantial risks. This post sets out the basics on how online gaming companies can protect their IP in China via China IP registrations. Though our law firm represents a host (sort-of-pun intended) of online gaming companies, we have been hesitant to write specifically about largely because it is not all that legally different from other industries. But because we have lately been getting emails requesting we do so, we will. Starting now.
My law firm represents many foreign companies that do OEM manufacturing around the world — mostly China, but India, Mexico, Brazil, Vietnam, Thailand, Taiwan, Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Bangladesh, and Cambodia as well. In our discussions with our clients that manufacturing in foreign countries, we nearly always discuss what they can and should be doing to
China Employee Confidentiality and Noncompete Agreements are confusing and often drafted and/or handled incorrectly by foreign companies.
China NNN Agreements are usually THE key to protecting your IP against China. Done right, they are nearly flawless. Done wrong (which nearly all are) they are worse than nothing at all. In this post, I explain the basics on how to draft a China NNN Agreement that will work.
As we regularly point out in these pages, registering your trademark "is as close to a no-brainer as there is in China IP." We say trademark, because in most cases that is the key IP, but copyrights and patents could be a part of the mix. Trademark registrations, however, are not - or at least should not be - objectives in and of themselves. Though a registered trademark has inherent value as a deterrent against counterfeiting and other bad-faith actions, it is best to conceive of the registration as a tool to be actively used. Here are some tips on what to do once you have registered your China trademark.
What can you learn from what Nike is doing? You can learn that there are plenty of countries other than China that manufacture quality items at a price that makes sense for a highly sophisticated international company like Nike and that alone ought to open your eyes to the manufacturing world outside China. Due to tariffs and shipping costs, manufacturing outside China makes increasing sense for many companies.
There have always been benefits to international licensing, but the benefits of international licensing have increased due to COVID. and too many business owners miss the opportunity to generate revenue and increase their business' value by licensing their technology internationally.
Bad manufacturing contracts lead to bad products. Nearly all companies that have product problems would have avoided those problems had they used a good contract or done their due diligence on their product supplier before paying. In this post, we explain how best to avoid these common mistakes.
China's trademark office permits for the trademark registration of colors. However, though you can register a China trademark for a color combination, single color trademarks are not allowed. It is also required for China trademark registration that your color combination be distinctive. It is also important that you remember that China is a "fist to file" trademark country so if you want to register your color combination as a China trademark you must be sure to seek that registration first, before anyone else does.
