One of my savviest clients called me a couple weeks ago. This guy is an opportunist. He makes things all around the world. He makes cheap things for which there is an immediate need. He has been doing this unbelievably successfully for around twenty years, all over the world, but lately almost exclusively in China… Continue Reading
Monthly Archives: January 2010
US-China Foreign Policy. Just One Thought.
Posted in EventsI have the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and the Washington Post in my feed-reader, all set to pull up China related articles. For the last couple days, these three sites have had a number of articles relating to the US selling a massive amount of arms to Taiwan and also to the… Continue Reading
China Real Estate: The Bubble Will Pop.
Posted in Recommended ReadingCan you read this post by Patrick Chovanec, entitled, “Reference Points on China Real Estate,” and still insist China real estate (at least in its biggest wealthiest cities) is not one massive bubble that will have to eventually resoundingly pop? I couldn’t. UPDATE: I just started a discussion on this topic over at the Linkedin… Continue Reading
World Class China Brands. Now, Later, Or Never?
Posted in Recommended ReadingGreat discussion budding over at the Linkedin China Law Blog Group among some really knowledgeable China people on whether there really is such a thing as top Chinese brands in the worldwide market and if and when there will be such a thing. David Dayton of Silk Road International blog started the discussion by laying… Continue Reading
Banning Dog Meat In China. Who’s Culturally Superior Now, Sucker?
Posted in Legal NewsWhen the media and the blogosphere started going crazy writing about China’s plans to ban the eating of dog meat, I made very clear to myself that I was going to stay out of it. There was just no way I was going to join that bandwagon. First off, I just did not see it… Continue Reading
Floating Houses, Conflicting Laws, And Really Nice Governmental Officials. China Law Practice Writ Large.
Posted in Legal NewsI love this post. It speaks to me. Stan Abrams of China Hearsay wrote a post on Chinese law, entitled, “Shenzhen’s ‘Floating House’ – My New Example of Administrative Uncertainty in China.” The post is about the floating house pictured below, which house cost USD$15 million: Stan sees this house and what has been happening… Continue Reading
China Quality. It’s Getting Better All The Time.
Posted in China BusinessA domestic products liability lawyer friend of mine sent me an article essentially saying how Chinese factories do not care about quality, Chinese factories will try to get away with whatever they can because they are run by evil people, these things are getting worse, and Americans who buy from Chinese factories are stupid. I… Continue Reading
Fostering Innovation In China And The US For The 21st Century.
Posted in Legal NewsThis is a guest post by Michael Carrier, professor of law at Rutgers University and author of the book, Innovation for the 21st Century: Harnessing the Power of Intellectual Property and Antitrust Law In my recent book Innovation for the 21st Century: Harnessing the Power of Intellectual Property and Antitrust Law (Oxford), I explore the… Continue Reading
How NOT To Choose Your China Business Partner. And Why I Take Cabs.
Posted in Recommended ReadingInteresting guest post by Arie Schreier over at the China Solved Blog. The post is entitled, “How Not to Choose a Business Partner in China,” and reduced to its essence, it is saying to pick your partner for business reasons. But it makes for a much better story than that as it relays how so… Continue Reading
China Law. Creatives Need Not Apply?
Posted in Legal NewsLeslie Forman over at the Beijing Corporate Training Blog did an interesting post the other day regarding a conversation she had with a Chinese lawyer on creativity. The post is entitled, “Creativity in the Context of Chinese Legal Work” and it relates how this Chinese lawyer insisted Chinese legal work mandates against creativity. This morning,… Continue Reading
Employee Non-Compete Agreements In China. It’s Complicated.
Posted in Basics of China Business LawBy Steve Dickinson Chinese employment law presents many challenges to U.S. employers. One issue that causes much confusion is the proper use of non-compete agreements with Chinese employees. Before China adopted its Labor Contract Law (“LCL”) in 2008, it was common for foreign employers to require all of their Chinese employees to enter into non-compete… Continue Reading
Evacuation Insurance For China. Why This Cushy Boy Says Yes.
Posted in China TravelAt my old law firm, I was one of two lawyers who traveled constantly. Back then it was mostly to China, Russia, Korea, Turkey, and Vietnam, but sometimes even more exotic places like Papua New Guinea would come in. I later learned that at least one of our staff would refer to the two of… Continue Reading
China’s Lack Of IP Protection: Overrated. Overrated.
Posted in Legal NewsMany years ago, I attended a Seattle area High School basketball game between Roosevelt High School and Juanita High School. The big matchup was between two top 100 high school prospects, Marcus Williams for Roosevelt and Micah Downs for Juanita. By that point, both Micah Downs and his father had already made clear they thought… Continue Reading
Ennovate Blog. Because China’s Youth Are The Holy Grail.
Posted in Recommended ReadingNow that everyone knows garnering all 1.33 billion Chinese as customers for your product or service is unrealistic, selling to China’s youth is the new holy grail. But who are China’s youth and what do they want? Seeing as how I do not profess to having a clue on those questions in my own country,… Continue Reading
Why Does China Want Your Name?
Posted in Events“The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” Ronald Reagan And though the word count varies by language, the idea remains the same. Beginning in November, China will be undertaking its most comprehensive census ever. And this time, it will include expats/foreigners. I have… Continue Reading
A Beginner’s Guide To China Manufacturing.
Posted in Recommended ReadingThe China Works Blog just ran a terrific post setting out the various steps a foreign company should take to manufacture product in China. Entitled, “The ultimate China sourcing checklist – a beginner’s guide to manufacturing in China,” the post nicely sets out twenty-three steps to be followed, within the following five categories: – Before… Continue Reading
The Google v. China Smackdown. Go To ImageThief For The Good Stuff.
Posted in Recommended ReadingThe Imagethief blog has a post up here that provides an excellent list of the best writings so far on the Google-China Kerfuffle. This story is already big because it is Google and China and I see a very real possibility of this becoming huge if it spreads. I do not even know what “spreading”… Continue Reading
Another Day, Another Interesting Conversation With A China Factory. And How Lawyering Has Its Widgets Too.
Posted in China BusinessSilk Road International Blog is one of my favorite blogs. It is written by David Dayton, an “international procurement and project management” specialist with more than twenty years of Asia experience. What I like so much about his blog is that it so often brings us up close and personal and it just tells it… Continue Reading
China Whets Its Enforcement Appetite. And It’s YOU It Wants.
Posted in Legal NewsFor the last few months, we have been sounding the theme that China is becoming less beholden to foreign enterprises. We have been saying that the direct corollary of that is China’s stepping up enforcement of its laws against foreign enterprises. At the beginning of this year, CLB’s own Steve Dickinson wrote an article on… Continue Reading
With China’s New Standing Come New Errors.
Posted in China BusinessThis post is very much based on Steve Dickinson’s article in this month’s China Economic Review, entitled, “New Image, New Error.” With China being hailed as the world economy’s savior, its government has concludedthis is its century. The West is irrelevant and China will lead a vanguard of new players — and the game will… Continue Reading
Bad Faith Trademark Registration In China. Good Luck With That.
Posted in Legal NewsEvery few months, my law firm gets contacted by a Western company that wants us to pursue a bad faith trademark case against a company in China. Typically, the Western company wants to pursue litigation against a Chinese company for having trademarked what the Western company perceives to be their tradename or trademark. These cases… Continue Reading
China Law Blog. There’s An App For That.
Posted in EventsI am delighted to announce a new way for you to get your China Law Blog fix. As of about a week ago, China Law Blog has been an iPhone App, making us one of the first law blogs to have an iPhone App. We used AppMakr.com to create the application, which provides updated blog… Continue Reading
China Law Blog Wins ABA Journal Best Blog Award. Thanks All Its Loyal Readers.
Posted in Good PeopleThe American Bar Association (ABA) Journal has came out with its top ten law blogs of 2009 and I am happy to report China Law Blog once again made this very difficult cut. The ABA Journal editors first chose the best 100 blawgs in ten categories, ranging from Practice Specific to Legal Theory and Geo… Continue Reading
How To Form A Representative Office In China.
Posted in Basics of China Business LawFor every roughly 100 China WFOEs and Joint Ventures (total) my firm helps set up in China, it does one Representative Office. Why so few Rep Offices, when it is generally agreed they are the easiest entity for foreigners to form in China? Because the inherent limitations on China Rep Offices mean they seldom make… Continue Reading
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