China scam fraud

Faked in China: Even the Universities Are Not Immune

Danwei ran a story, University Diploma Scandal in Jinan [link no longer exists], on a fake Chinese university. This story is directly relevant for those doing business in China. Let me explain. The story is from the Jinan Times. Jinan is the capital of Shandong Province. I have been there a couple of times and

China unreliable entity list

Why You Should Avoid Lists of Chinese Manufacturers to Avoid

Got an email from a client with a link to a list of Chinese manufacturers to avoid. The list is described as an extensive list of companies that scam their customers or mishandle their orders, built up over the last few years. The client wanted to know what I thought of this list. I told

International due diligence checklist

What you Need to Know to Sell Your Product into China

ABC News just did a video news story. on American Products Selling in China. Though it is the proverbial three minute puff piece, it is right in pointing out the huge opportunities to sell American products in China. It starts out noting how “the Chinese spent $104 billion in U.S. exports last year — up

China visas

Navigating U.S. Visa Challenges for Chinese Nationals: Tips & Insights

One of our clients recently asked for our help “making sure” it could get a U.S. visa for one of its China-based Chinese managers. The client wanted this manager to come to the United States for two months of training. Our client had heard from a friend in a similar situation that it was “getting

China lawyer client loyalty

Your China Lawyer’s Primary Allegiance is to the Communist Party, NOT You

Your China Lawyer’s Primary Allegiance is Not to You Imagine a scenario where a company involved in a business dispute in China, finds their case entangled in political complexities. This isn’t just a hypothetical situation. A few years ago, a prominent European client of ours faced a legal battle [yes, I am being intentionally vague

International IP lawyers

China IP Protection: Deja Vu All Over Again

When we first started this blog way back in 2006, we would constantly write how if you want to protect your IP in China, you have to register your IP in China.  Our thesis was (and is) that if you don’t bother registering your IP in China, you really have no right to complain about

China trademark lawyer

The China Trademarks You Need

In 1995, a Chinese company registered the name Ai Ma Shi, which is what Chinese call Hermès. Hermes has for a long time sought to take away the Chinese company’s trademark registration of Ai Ma Shi and secure it for itself. Chinese courts have consistently ruled against Hermès and a Chinese court did so again

China employee non-compete

China’s “Living Wage”

Just read a CNN article, When will workers share in Apple’s wealth? This article was written by Scott Nova, executive director of the Worker Rights Consortium, a “labor rights-monitoring organization that investigates working conditions in factories around the world.” Nova attacks Apple on many fronts in his article, but it is the following that really

Learning Chinese for business

The Pros and Cons of Learning Chinese for Business

The following is a guest post by Jonathan Poston. Though learning Chinese is obviously helpful for doing business in or with China, actually accomplishing this can be so difficult that many give up or just ponder whether it is worth it. I asked Jonathan to write a post on the pros and cons of learning