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
A China-based cybersquatter has registered a domain that copies your trademark or diverts your customers. Learn when to use the UDRP, China’s separate `.cn` dispute process, a demand letter, or litigation to recover the domain and stop the misuse.
As we have written a number of times, the essential first step in any China IP strategy is to register your trademarks with China's Trademark Office. Because China is a first-to-file country, until you register a trademark in China you have no rights in that trademark in China. But a trademark registration alone goes only
I wrote the below article many years ago with Gregory Buyoff, a good friend, a brilliant international IP lawyer, and the most knowledgeable person I've ever known on Vietnam history. Intellectual Property Magazine published this article, but it no longer shows up on its website so I am running it here (with a few updates),
As we have written many times over the years, if you are selling goods into China, sourcing goods from China, or just doing business in/with China, you should probably register trademarks in China for your brand names and logos. China is a first-to-file country and it does not require evidence of prior use. This means
Before the Lunar New Year, Shanghai police cracked down on one of the largest subtitle groups in China, Renren Yingshi (YYeTs.com). The police arrested 14 people (not the actual translators but people who run the business). According to officials, Renren Yingshi is suspected of pirating more than 20,000 television shows and films and of earning
As the PRC plans for the next decade of Xi Jinping rule, economic planning is at the forefront. Xi Jinping's core policy for that decade is his new concept of dual circulation 双循环. The concept is that for economic development China must rely both on domestic economic development and on China's participation in the international
I recently spoke with an in-house IP lawyer at a high-tech hardware client that does business all over the world, mostly in emerging market countries with weak intellectual property rights and protections, including China. When it comes to protecting their IP, this company employs what he calls a "Swiss Army Knife approach," meaning they do
When someone emails one of our international manufacturing lawyers asking us what they should be considering to protect themselves when manufacturing overseas, we typically respond with something like the following: Our clients that manufacture product in China/Vietnam/Mexico/India/Thailand/Taiwan/Malysia (or wherever it is they are asking about) typically use us for some or all of the following
Trademarks are not limited to words or drawings and can include sensory marks such as colors, smells and sounds. In the US, the USPTO recognizes sounds as trademarks if the sounds make you think of a company’s product or service. MGM’s roaring lion, Homer Simpson’s D’OH, and 20th Century Fox’s fanfare are all famous sounds
