The Hong Kong Intermediary Trap: Do Not Contract with the Wrong China Company Foreign buyers like dealing with Hong Kong intermediaries. The emails are clear, the invoices look familiar, the bank account feels safer, and the person on the other end usually speaks better English than the factory contact. But in China manufacturing, invoices are
If your products are made in China and exported from there, your trademarks are already exposed. For many companies, the real risk is not selling in China. It is someone else registering the mark first and using that registration to disrupt manufacturing or exports.
China Manufacturing Contracts: Why U.S. Drafts Do Not Work Clients often send us a U.S. manufacturing agreement and ask whether it can save time or money on a China manufacturing contract. It cannot. Sometimes the ask is smaller: can we just spend a couple of hours reviewing it? We decline because we will not bill
Trademark Squatters Are Coming for Your Supply Chain in Swarms Now For years, trademark squatters followed the same general script. They would identify a foreign brand that had not yet registered its trademark in China, the United States, or another key market. Then they would file first and wait. Eventually, the legitimate brand owner would
China NNN Agreements work when they deter Chinese companies from misusing your IP. Here is when they help, when they do not, and how to draft one that will actually work.
International Litigation: Winning the Lawsuit Is Often the Easy Part Companies often go into international litigation asking the wrong first question: can we win? That matters, of course. But in many cross-border disputes, it is not the most important question. The more important question is whether winning will ever lead to money. Our international dispute
Moving production to Mexico is more than just a sourcing decision. It is a legal and operational rebuild. Companies that treat China/Mexico contracts, labor, IP, customs, and transition sequencing as afterthoughts often end up paying to fix avoidable mistakes.
Your leverage is usually strongest before your China factory knows you are leaving and before your plans in the new country become obvious to everyone else. That window does not stay open for long. Once it closes, fixing trademark gaps, tooling problems, and bad contracts becomes slower, more expensive, and much more difficult. Sometimes it does not just make the exit harder. Sometimes it makes the exit fail.
Doing Business Internationally: Why Your International Lawyer Should Handle Your Domestic Work Too There are times when you absolutely need a local specialist. A real estate lawyer who knows Oregon title issues, a New York tax lawyer, a California employment litigator. Some legal work is local, and it is a mistake to pretend otherwise. But
Why Demand Letters to China Suppliers Often Backfire Sending a quick demand letter to a China supplier can destroy your leverage. Twice last week, I had to explain that to companies that were not clients. Both wanted me to immediately send a demand letter to their China suppliers to force shipment of long-delayed product. I
