China’s Ever-Worsening IP Landscape
China sees the decoupling/de-risking writing on the wall, and it is redoubling its efforts to steal IP now, before the door on its ability to do so closes. China assistance to Russia in its war against Ukraine is the latest thing to accelerate the closing of that door. If (or as many would say when) China invades Taiwan, that door will shut for a long, long time.
In light of all the new sanctions and tariffs against China (by both the United States and the EU) Chinese companies are upping their IP theft game. The primary goal of so many Chinese companies these days is to get high end technology from American and European and Australian (mostly) companies for free. Failing that, it is to get that technology as cheaply as possible.
Foreign companies must remain vigilant and take proactive measures to safeguard their proprietary innovations.
China IP Pitfalls: Case Studies
Our China lawyers have been dealing with what feels like an endless stream of instances where foreign lawyers have essentially committed malpractice to the detriment of their clients. I wrote about this (with much less of an emphasis on the lawyers who allowed it to happen) in How to Avoid Inadvertently Gifting your IP to your Foreign Manufacturer.
The below matters highlight the pitfalls foreign companies encounter in trying to protect their intellectual property from China. In one instance, a tech company unknowingly signed an MOU that relinquished control of their IP to their manufacturer. Another company, relying solely on purchase orders, found their product design stolen and patented by their Chinese partner. These cautionary tales underline the importance of seeking experienced China IP counsel to help you in crafting strong contracts and securing the proper China IP registrations necessary to safeguard your innovations before entering the Chinese market.
In describing tech companies and their problems to others, I use the following as my prime example, taken from at least a dozen real life examples in the last few years:
Tech Company: We just completed our Kickstarter campaign, and we totally killed it and so now we are ready to start protecting our IP in China.
One of our China Lawyers: Where are you right now with China?
Tech Company: We have been working with a great company in Shenzhen. Together we are working on wrapping up the product and it should be ready in a few months.
China Lawyer: Okay. Do you have any sort of agreement with this Chinese company regarding your IP or anything else.
Tech Company: No. All we have is an MOU (Memorandum of Understanding). They’ve really been great. They have told us that they would enter into a contract with us whenever we are ready.
China Lawyer: Can you please send us the MOU?
Tech Company: Sure.
China Lawyer: We will look at that and then get back to you with our thoughts.
Then, a day or two later a conversation like the following ensues:
China Lawyer: There is a good chance a Chinese court will view your MOU as a contract. (For why we say this, check out China LOI and MOU: Don’t Let Them Happen to You.) And the Chinese language portion of the MOU — which is all a Chinese court will be considering — is quite different than the English language portion. The Chinese language portion says any IP the two of you develop (the tech company and the Chinese manufacturer) belongs to the Chinese company. So as things now stand, there is a good chance the Chinese company owns your IP. This being the case, there is no point in our writing a Product Development Agreement your Chinese manufacturer is not going to sign.
Tech Company: I’m not worried. I think you have it wrong. I’m sure they will sign such an agreement because we orally agreed on this before we even started the project.
China Lawyer: That’s fine, but I still think it makes sense for you to at least make sure they will sign a new contract making clear all the IP associated with your product belongs to you, because if they won’t sign such a contract, there is no point in you paying us to draft it.
So far not a single company has come back to us with an agreement from their Chinese manufacturer to sign.
In that same post, I wrote of the following variation on the same theme:
We have lately been getting a slight variation on this theme, where the foreign tech company is further along in its product development and is actually now at the point of selling its product. This newer situation is exemplified by the email below, which is an amalgamation of various recent emails:
I am hoping your international lawyers can help us figure out the best course of action. [Then usually follows a description of their company and their tech product and how they ended up going with a particular Chinese manufacturer and why they failed to seek out the advice of a China lawyer until now. BTW, this description far too often involves their domestic attorney having told the company that they would turn the company over to a “China specialist” as soon as that “becomes necessary.”]
We do not have any contracts in place with our current manufacturer. We started the relationship with our current manufacturer a year ago. He told us POs are contracts in China and our lawyer here confirmed that. We sent him our design, paid for the molds, and we got our products. Recently, we learned that our manufacturer used our product pictures as marketing material on Alibaba and we suspect they are selling our products all over the world. A week or so later, I found out that they filed for a design patent for our design in China.
We just started the working relationship with [online retailer]. Our manufacturer doesn’t know that. All I told them is that we are working with a big client, and if they do not sign any agreements with us at this point, we will not place any new orders with them. They then told me that they are willing to sign a non-disclosure agreement with us.
We’re filing design patents in the US. If we continue to work with this same manufacturer during this period, which agreement will help us get the best protection?
Since they have already claimed our designs in China, will that prevent us from working with a new manufacturer?
Do you advise we work with a new manufacturer at this point?
Our response has been something like the following:
A PO is not really a contract; it is the placing of one order. Unless your PO speaks to IP (which would be unusual), it almost certainly will not help you here. On top of this, some Chinese courts do not see POs as a contract at all and some Chinese courts will not even look at a document not in Chinese. The ideal is a Chinese language contract sealed by the Chinese company.
Our biggest concern is that this manufacturer has gone off and filed for a design patent for your product. This will pose problems for you and for any new Chinese manufacturer you might seek to use. Depending how far along your present manufacturer is in the patent process, it may be able to sue you and your Chinese manufacturer for damages and to force production to cease. At minimum, it will be able to cause you problems unless you can stop or invalidate its design patent. At this point, there is a good chance this Chinese manufacturer literally owns your product in China and can use that ownership to control what you do there.
If you seek to go to a new manufacturer, you can be sure of two things: one, your old manufacturer will NOT give you the molds you think you paid for, and two, it will use its design patent to try to block your products from leaving China. It also may sue you for patent infringement in a Chinese court. In the meantime, making your product in China will be high risk.
Based on the information you have provided us, it appears you have the following four options, none of which are terribly good:
1. You leave China entirely and you start manufacturing in some other country. Is this possible?
2. You seek to block or invalidate your manufacturer’s design patent. This will not be accomplished quickly or inexpensively, and there is a good chance of never succeeding with this.
3. You try to strike a deal with your manufacturer whereby it assigns the patents to you and in return you agree to keep using it for manufacturing for x number of years. It may agree to this if what you can pay it will exceed what it can make by selling your product on its own. The fact that it has offered to sign a non-disclosure agreement does not mean much at all, since such an agreement will not help you, and your manufacturer almost certainly knows this. For why this is the case, check out Why Your NDA Does Not Work for China. You need it to sign a contract that actually makes clear what IP belongs to you and has clear limitations on what your Chinese manufacturer can and cannot do with your IP. At this point, it sounds like you need a China-centric manufacturing agreement that makes clear who owns what.
4. You go to a new manufacturer in China. If you do this, you likely will not have your molds and your existing manufacturer will likely make a lot of trouble for you by suing or threatening the new manufacturer, etc.
Don’t let the above happen to you. For more on how you can prevent this, check out A Guide to China NNN Agreements and China Product Development Agreements.
The Need for Experienced Legal Oversight
Now for the “suing all the lawyers” part.
In most of these instances where a company has relinquished to a Chinese company the IP it took the tech company years to develop, the company was represented by a domestic lawyer. And in most of those instances, the domestic lawyer told its tech client it would be able to save the company money by using the domestic lawyer for “the basic agreements”, and then using a “more specialized China lawyer” when necessary.
But as you can see from the above, the domestic lawyers too often guess badly wrong on the “necessary” part of this equation. In fact, most of the time, it is the tech company, not its lawyer, who finally decides to call the China lawyers at my law firm and that usually happens when the tech company starts sensing something is wrong with its China situation.
So it is with some regret that I am now going to start adding a fifth option to the four I listed above:
5. Consult with a local legal malpractice lawyer about suing your domestic lawyer who led you to believe they were qualified to assist you in dealing with China and then allowed your company to get into the terrible situation in which it now finds yourself.
Proactive Strategies for Protecting Your IP in China
Though robust legal safeguards, such as good contracts and timely trademark, copyright and patent registrations are essential, a comprehensive approach to IP protection in China goes beyond just contracts and registrations. Here are some proactive strategies companies should also consider:
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Geographical Diversification: Manufacturing your product in a country with a strong IP protection regime can be a powerful deterrent to theft. Look for countries with established legal frameworks and a history of enforcing intellectual property rights. This reduces reliance on a single location and lowers the risk of exposure. Moving your manufacturing out of China will likely reduce your worldwide IP risks.
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Strategic Use of Open-Source Licensing: Open-source licensing allows you to share certain aspects of your technology while retaining control over core innovations. This can accelerate development by leveraging a wider community and potentially build a stronger ecosystem around your product.
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Fragmentation and Compartmentalization: Consider dividing your manufacturing process across different locations. This can make it more challenging for any one party to steal your entire know-how. Keep your most sensitive processes in-house or in trusted locations with a proven track record of IP security. I have seen instances where this has worked incredibly well, but I have also seen instances where it adds to manufacturing costs without adding any additional protections.
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Focus on Rapid Innovation: In a fast-paced technological environment, the best defense is sometimes a constantly evolving offense. By prioritizing continuous innovation and staying ahead of the curve, you make it less attractive for competitors to steal your ideas. A constant stream of improvements makes it harder to replicate your entire product effectively. In the “old days” this was a great way to protect IP, but with companies able to order your product (or just review it off the internet) and effectively reverse engineer it, and go to production at rapid speed, rapid innovation is also one of those things in which your mileage may vary.
- Conduct Business with Only Vetted Companies: I have a “how to protect your IP speech from China” speech that I have given well over 100 times. It starts with me listing the three keys to protecting your IP from China. The second and third keys are “good contracts”, and “good registrations.” The first key is “good partner.” I start this section of my speech by emphasizing the importance of choosing your China partners wisely. I then talk about how reputable Chinese companies only rarely steal IP, because they do not want to put themselves and their reputations at risk by doing so. Do your due diligence on any company to which you will be revealing your IP.
Conclusion: Safeguarding Your Intellectual Property in China
American and European companies face significant IP risks when entering into agreements with Chinese companies without appropriate and comprehensive legal documentation. Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) or Purchase Orders (POs) almost invariably lack the necessary IP protections when interpreted under Chinese law, leaving companies vulnerable to loss of their own innovations.
The case studies I share above should serve as cautionary tales, highlighting scenarios how inadequate legal oversight can lead to IP disputes or loss. Whether at the stage of product development or market entry, securing robust contractual agreements that unequivocally define and protect IP ownership is paramount.
A proactive approach to protecting your IP from China can help mitigate risks, safeguard your valuable IP assets, and ensure compliance with local regulations.
