China Employee Confidentiality and Noncompete Agreements
China Employee Confidentiality and Noncompete Agreements are confusing and often drafted and/or handled incorrectly by foreign companies.
China Employment Contracts With Enforceable Provisions
If you are a China employer, you need written employment contracts with enforceable provisions for all of your China employees. But merely putting the terms and conditions regarding the employment relationship in writing is not sufficient to protect you. An unenforceable employment contract or even an unenforceable provision in an otherwise well-written employment contract can hurt you as the employer.
Best Practices for Tech Companies When Dealing With China
Recently I sat in a presentation with some executives who were sharing best practices for tech companies when dealing with China and the world generally. These were companies that had great success at home and abroad but not surprisingly found China a more difficult market to tackle. Here are some of their tips, along with
International Manufacturing Template Documents
Last week a relatively large company emailed me to ask what our law firm charges for “template Thailand and Vietnam Manufacturing Agreements.” A few hours later, I got the same request from a different company for Mexico. In response to these emails, I explained why we never do “template” manufacturing agreements anywhere in the world
China Employee Contract Renewals
When our employer clients seek our counsel on new China employee hires, we usually (but not always) advise they use an initial fixed term of three years. We also recommend that before the initial employment term is up, they consider whether to extend the employee’s contract for a second employment term.
Forced Labor Compliance: Your Chance to Be Heard
On December 23 of last year, President Biden signed into law the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA). The new law's most salient feature is the establishment of a rebuttable presumption that any product made in Xinjiang violates the forced labor statute (19 U.S.C. § 1307). This will have a major impact for all importers of products from China. Fortunately they have a chance to be heard on the issue of forced labor compliance.
The International Manufacturing Price Trap
Contract manufacturing is fundamentally the purchase of a product. For any product purchase, the key terms are price, quantity and delivery date. And yet many buyers treat these key term as secondary issues. As buyers focus on exciting issues like product design and "getting to market", buyers frequently fall into a trap. They assume that price, quantity and delivery terms will never be an issue. When these issues arise, as they virtually always do, the product buyer is in a situation where it has little to no room to negotiate. The overseas factory is now in control, and then it springs the price trap.
Illegal Transshipping Can Make YOU Rich: Meet the False Claims Act
Reporting someone else for illegal transshipping under the False Claims Act can make you rich. The United States has imposed tariffs and duties against a whole slew of Chinese products, increasing the costs of those products sold to the United States.To avoid these tariffs and duties, many companies are shipping their Made in China products to countries other than China and then shipping those products to the United States, claiming those products were made in a country other than China. This is called transshipping and it is illegal.
A Guide to China NNN Agreements
China NNN Agreements are usually THE key to protecting your IP against China. Done right, they are nearly flawless. Done wrong (which nearly all are) they are worse than nothing at all. In this post, I explain the basics on how to draft a China NNN Agreement that will work.
Omicron and Supply Chains: Buckle Up
Omicron is incredibly contagious and China is not well-equipped to slow it down to the same extent it has done with previous COVID variants. Omicron will likely lead to shutdowns of China's factories and convince more foreign product buying companies to diversify out of China.