China Trade Dress Law

China Trade Dress and Unfair Competition Law

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

China manufacturing moving to Mexico

“Mexico is the New China” and Manufacturers are Moving There

The above is a direct quote from a client for whom my law firm is now in the process of helping his company move its production from China to Mexico. He said this about China and Mexico, right after setting saying that he “is done with China” because his company is unable to sell a

China Trademark theft

Trademark Squatting: A Dying “Trade”?

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

International IP lawyer

Must I Register My Company Name as a Trademark in China?

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

Online China trademark registrations

The Problem with Online Trademark Services for China

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

China Madrid trademark registration lawyers

China Trademarks: Register via Madrid or in China?

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

International distribution agreements

China Distribution Contracts: The Basics

China Distribution Contracts: Same-Same but Different Ever since COVID, our China lawyers have been seeing a big increase in foreign companies entering into distribution contracts with Chinese distributors, due mostly to the difficulties and risks foreign companies face when they go into China directly. Many of the companies that come to us to draft their

How To Stop China-Based Domain Name Theft

How To Stop China-Based Domain Name Theft

Domain Name Trademark Infringement The integrity of a brand’s identity is paramount. Unfortunately, the rise of digital commerce has generated new forms of intellectual property challenges, notably domain name trademark infringement. This issue is especially prevalent for companies interacting with or manufacturing in markets such as China, where rapid registration of similar domain names by