A successful product launch can give a Chinese factory, trademark squatter, or competitor information and leverage you cannot easily take back. Before going public, startups manufacturing in China should secure key IP, protect sensitive information, verify their factories, and lock down development, tooling, and production rights.
China Enforces Good Contracts Contrary to popular belief, China's legal system offers robust mechanisms for contract enforcement, outperforming not only common perceptions, but also the judicial systems of the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in efficiency. At least this is what the World Bank said in its last (2020) report ranking countries on
1. Typical Boilerplate Provisions The Western world -- particularly the Anglo-Saxon/common law world -- is used to ultra-long contracts for everything. A contract to buy $6,000 worth of rubber duckies will include all sorts of boilerplate provisions, such as one making clear that buying rubber duckies does not make the buyer and seller parties a
1. The Huawei Indictments On January 28, the U.S. Department of Justice unsealed two indictments against Huawei. The first indictment concerns ongoing claims against Huawei and its CFO, Meng Wanzhou, for allegedly violating U.S. sanctions against Iran. The second and more interesting indictment concerns alleged trade secret thefts by Huawei's U.S. subsidiary under the direction
1. Chinese Investment in U.S. Businesses is Down 95% Mergermarket, just published its global M&A report for 2018, revealing that investments from China in U.S. businesses fell by 95% as compared to 2016. A summary of the data in the Report shows the following: 1. Worldwide M&A activity was strong in 2018. "The transactions that
One of the most important things our China attorneys do with every contract we write is to determine who exactly is on the other side. This is often no small feat. When the process goes smoothly, our client instructs us to draft a contract with XYZ Mainland Chinese Company. Our role then involves thoroughly researching
Robert Walsh, sometime Seattle resident and long-time friend of our law firm (we have worked on a number of Asia deals together and we — Dan and Steve — met up with him on our last trip to Myanmar), has spent the last four years in Myanmar, where he operates a vibrant business consultancy. Robert
I wrote the below post regarding the Qingdao Film Metropolis project in April of 2018. After we ran the post, I received threats of legal action and of violence against both me and my family. That led us to take the post down but now that Wanda has completely pulled out of the Film Metropolis
Every month or so, someone calls one of our China lawyers wanting to discuss "working with you to help your clients get money out of China." These are nearly always phone calls (not emails) and we typically do not take the calls. We've been doing this long enough (and discussing this long enough with ultra-high
Before I explain what to do if arrested in China, I should set out the following "whys" behind this post: 1. Foreigners get arrested overseas all the time. Not just in China. 2. Foreigners get arrested all the time in China, for all sorts of things, including for things that would not be crimes in
