Your China distribution contract should contain provisions that protect your brand name in China.

Close your eyes, and imagine that when you open them you have been magically transported to another country and you are inside a McDonald’s. How do you know you’re in a McDonald’s? Surely you would know without having to see the name McDonald’s or the famous Golden Arches logo. Would you even know that you

I attended an excellent IPWatchdog webinar this past week on trademark squatting, presented by Ai-Leen Lim of AWA Asia. You should watch the whole thing, but here are some thoughts and takeaways. Trademark squatting is one of the biggest problems when it comes to intellectual property rights (IPR) protection in China. Basically, squatting occurs when

If you truly want to protect your content in China, register your copyright in China

Get your China trademark now, not later.

No two China trademark strategies are the same, but one thing is pretty much a constant: You should register the company’s original English name. Before we go on, a clarification: I use “English name” as shorthand, but these names are often in other languages, or simply be a random collection of Latin letters. Names in

Hardly a week goes by without a company contacting one of our international IP lawyers wanting to retain us to “stop the counterfeits” of their products online and offline. Far too often these people believe one of our IP lawyers can within 24 hours send out a “template” cease and desist letter and within another 24

The Problem with Online Trademark Services for China Once or twice a month, my law firm’s international trademark lawyers are contacted by companies whose China trademark registrations were mishandled by online trademark services. In all instances, the registration problems stem from online services claiming they can register trademarks globally, including in China. These claims are

Whenever clients ask about filing a trademark in China via the Madrid System, my answer is simple: filing a national application directly with China’s own Trademark Office is better. The one-size-fits-all Madrid process makes registering a trademark in China seem easy. Really easy: all you have to do is check a box marked “China.” However, while Madrid applications are