On July 14, the U.S. Senate passed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. In an era of hyperpartisanship, the Act is a rare instance of truly bipartisan legislation. Cosponsors included figures from across the political spectrum, from Josh Hawley to Elizabeth Warren. This in itself is something businesses should take note of, as it is
Hardly a week goes by without a company contacting one of our international IP lawyers wanting to retain us to “stop the counterfeits” of their products online and offline. Far too often these people believe one of our IP lawyers can within 24 hours send out a “template” cease and desist letter and within another 24
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
Your China manufacturer asks you to send its payment to a bank account in another jurisdiction, such as Hong Kong or Singapore. Should you agree? Probably not. When working with our clients that are having their products manufactured in China (or in various other leading manufacturing countries such as Taiwan, Thailand, Mexico, Poland, Vietnam, India,
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
In two recent posts, How To Succeed When Taking Your Company Overseas and Do I Always Need to Form a Company in a Foreign Country?, I discussed some common issues companies need to wrestle with when deciding whether and how to take their company overseas. Among those are the pitfalls of having a foreign entity
Way back in 2012, I wrote an article for the Wall Street Journal, entitled, China’s Slowdown and American Business: Hardly a week goes by without complaints about payment problems or bankrupt debtors. I wrote a similar article for Forbes Magazine in 2014, entitled, How Businesses Should Deal With China’s Economic Slowdown. I summed up that
It is more important now than ever before that you conduct due diligence on your China manufacturer. This explains the manufacturer due diligence you need.
If you export products from the United States you can save on your US Taxes with a DISC Election
In yesterday’s post (How To Succeed When Taking Your Company Overseas) I briefly mentioned one of the most common problems companies face when going international: having a foreign entity when you do not really need one (and relatedly, having the wrong type of foreign entity, which I will discuss in a future post). This mistake
