Product manufacturing in China’s coastal regions has become increasingly challenging for manufacturers and buyers alike. Wages and rent have risen dramatically over the past five years while at the same time the economies of major buyers have suffered severe setbacks. This has put tremendous pressure on the small and medium businesses that make up the
One of my law firm’s international trade lawyers recently got an email from a company that was having a problem with one of its employees. This employee had left the company and at that moment the company realized it should have made this employee sign various trade secret agreements long ago. They came to us
The Chinese Portion of Your Contract is What Matters One of the most common trix employed by Chinese companies against American and European companies is fooling the American/European company into believing that the English version of their contract actually matters. My law firm’s China lawyers often see this from companies that come to us for
It Ain’t Easy Leaving China There is a long line of foreign companies looking to get out of China. These companies call the China lawyers at my law firm expecting their leaving China will consist of little more than flipping a switch and waving goodbye. But this being China, nothing could be further from the
Our China lawyers have seen a spike in queries from foreign companies not getting paid by private Chinese companies without affiliates or assets abroad. The Chinese company’s excuse for not paying is often “that the rules have recently changed so foreign payments are no longer possible.” Another one is that the Chinese company is simply
I was recently emailing with a reporter regarding how Memoranda of Understanding, (MOU) and Letters of Intent (LOIs) are so different in China than in the United States/Britain and how that difference often causes early discord between Chinese and American companies. We started the discussion by talking about the differences in the meaning of Memoranda
Many Chinse manufacturers have developed a standard form of payment, often termed 30/70 TT. This means: 30 percent down payment on placement of the order, with the remaining 70% due on shipment. This means 30% of the price is paid before the product is manufactured and 100% of the price is paid before the product
We have long advocated for prompt China trademark registration. For companies that manufacture and export from China, registration of the English language trademark is essential. For companies that sell products and services in China, registration of the existing English language marks and the Chinese language marks for the product is essential. China now has the
China Distributor Relationships Make Sense, Especially Now My law firm’s China lawyers have written more product distribution agreements in the last three years than in the ten years prior. This is happening because foreign companies want to profit from China’s consumer and industrial markets, but they are wary of going into the country in a
We have been drafting an increasing number of contracts for foreign companies licensing their concept or technology for use in China. In the old days, this type of licensing was primarily in the industrial sector. These days, much of our work has involved licensing agreements for companies that want to capture China business without having
