Dan Harris is a founding member of Harris Sliwoski, an international law firm where he mostly represents companies doing business in emerging market countries. Most of his time is spent helping American and European companies navigate foreign countries by working with the international lawyers at his firm in setting up companies overseas (WFOEs, Subsidiaries, Rep Offices and Joint Ventures), drafting international contracts, protecting IP, and overseeing M&A transactions.
In addition, Dan writes and speaks extensively on international law, with a focus on protecting foreign businesses in their overseas operations. He is also a prolific and widely-followed blogger, writing as the co-author of the award-winning China Law Blog.
Forming a WFOE in China and then operating that business in China is difficult and expensive. See e.g., Forming a China WFOE: Ten Things To Consider and See also Doing Business in China Without a WFOE: Will the Defendant Please Rise on why having a WFOE is a must if you will be doing business
I did an interview the other day with GlobalAutoIndustry.com, on China IP Challenges for Automotive Suppliers, dealing mostly with automotive high-tech, which in most respects is no different from high tech generally. The below is a transcript of that interview. For anyone who has been living in a cave, the auto industry has changed, is
Dual Language China Contracts: What You Must Know I cannot believe this is still happening, but it is. The “this” to which I am referring is foreign companies signing dual language contracts without knowing exactly what the Chinese language portion of their contract says. This is dangerous for the reasons given below. The Pitfalls of Dual
Your brand name and your product name and your logo are likely some of your company’s most valuable assets. Most companies realize this. Yet most companies do not realize how they put these things at risk by exploring doing business with China without FIRST applying for a China trademark. And in the past year or
7-3-2012. I just returned from Yangon, Myanmar, where I attended the first Myanmar Investment Summit and met with local attorneys and local businesspeople regarding foreign investment into Myanmar. I was quite surprised at the situation in Myanmar and the government method of promoting the local economy and integrating foreign investment into that development. As described
When working on complex contract manufacturing agreements, most of our clients tell us their main goal is to protect their intellectual property. This is particularly true for designers of start-up products where much of of their IP consists of trade secrets and know-how that require a formal agreement with the manufacturer. However, as we work
Chinese manufacturers are notorious for making and sending bad products. Not surprisingly, foreign buyers of these bad products often refuse to pay their Chinese factory anything more for those products. This unpaid amount is often substantial. The foreign buyer then moves on to a new factory. This new factory is often located in the same
Not a month goes by without a company telling me how great their relationship is with their Chinese counterparty, be it the Chinese company with which they are contemplating a joint venture or the Chinese company that manufactures their widgets. As a lawyer, my thoughts when hearing this sort of thing tends to be as
Smart Chinese manufacturers know that with their costs rising, they need to be able to distinguish themselves from their peers. One of the ways they are choosing to do this (even more frequently than in the past) is by copying and selling products they are making for their foreign customers. See Your China Factory as
Visit Your Overseas Factories One of the things my law firm’s international manufacturing lawyers always tell our clients is to visit their overseas factories, if at all possible. Factory Visits Show You Care Such a trip is critical for the following four reasons: Visiting your foreign factory emphasizes that you care. Why should your factory
