Arlo Kipfer

Arlo is based in Bogotá, where he advises clients on Latin America and China business issues. In addition, Arlo has advised clients on the establishment of several independent and joint venture international schools and he is a frequent speaker at international school conferences.

China NNN Agreements

China NNN Agreements: Essential and NOT for Trade Secrets

When my law firm’s international manufacturing lawyers  work on international manufacturing arrangements, we never just draft a “straight NDA.” Instead, we draft a “non-disclosure/non-use/non-circumvention agreement” that we refer to as an NNN Agreement. Why? Because a Western-style NDA is worthless or worse for China. For China, you need a China-specific NNN Agreement. 1. China NNN

China Employee Problem

China Employee Problems Rising

China employee problems are increasing. We explain how to prevent such problems from occuring and how to nip them in the bud when they do.

How not to get China Scammed

How to Avoid International Scams

Scammers love operating internationally because it makes them more difficult to track and it also makes suing and collecting more complicated as well. They also seem to work better than domestic scams because the person being scammed too often thinks this is just how things are done in foreign country X because they do not actually know how things are done in  foreign country X. Crossing borders increases confusion stemming from a lack of knowledge regarding language, culture, and regulation. All this combines to make international scams widely popular. In this post we discuss some of the more common scams and, most importantly, we discuss how to avoid getting scammed. 

Pig being butchered

The Butchering the Pig (Crypto – Forex) Scam: With Love from China

But lately our international litigation team has been seeing a vertible ton of a particularly sinster scam: The “Sha Zhu Pan” (Chinese: 杀猪盘) or, “Butchering the Pig” scam. The typical email we receive from a victim of this forex or crypto scam is usually something like this.

China NNN Agreements

China NNN Agreements and How to Give Them Real Teeth

As I noted in my previous post on China NNN agreements, for enforcement purposes you must make sure your China NNN agreement has teeth. To understand how enforcement works under Chinese law, we need to do a little work. The first point to realize is that the standard approach for enforcing an IP contract under the common law (this is the law in the United States and the UK and most of the British world) has no application under Chinese law. In the common law system, lawyers are mostly concerned with two issues. First, the rule that disfavors liquidated damage provisions. Second, the law/equity distinction that allows only for injunctive relief when a law (damages) remedy is not available.

Shutting down a China WFOE

Shutting Down a China WFOE: Don’t Go There

For reasons that ought to be apparent to anyone who reads the news, our China lawyers have of late been getting many emails from foreign companies looking at shutting down their China WFOE or just flee from China. Reduced to their essence, these emails usually focus on one of the following questions: 1. How do I do it correctly? 2. If I don't do it correctly, what are the possible repercussions? Will I be safe in China? We answer both questions in this post.

China Cyber Hacking

China Cyber Hacking: The Full Story

China cyber hacking obviously affects companies that do business in or with China but it is becoming increasingly apparent that it also impacts companies with no direct business connections to China. This post explains the Chinese government's cyber hacking goals, how it does its hacking, and why it is virtually impossible for foreign companies to avoid being hacked by the Chinese government or to fight back against it.