As often as we write about the need to register your trademarks in China, we have never written about how common it is for your China distributer to take your trademark and of how easy it is to prevent that. I thought of this last week after receiving yet another phone call where this had… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Subscribe to Uncategorized RSS FeedHow To Stop China Counterfeiting, Or At Least Reduce It.
Posted in UncategorizedA number of our clients manufacture products that sell for relatively high prices due in large part to distinguishing characteristics of our client’s company or product. In other words, the exact kind of product counterfeiters love to copy. Not sure why, but we have been spending more time lately in helping our clients prevent counterfeiting… Continue Reading
Register Your China Trademark Now. Then Register It Again With Customs.
Posted in UncategorizedAccording to recently released statistics, in 2012 Chinese Customs (General Administration of Customs or GAC for short) seized approximately 15,000 shipments of counterfeit goods, the vast majority of which were exports. This was the first year since the Beijing Olympics in which the numbers weren’t goosed by a “special campaign” or similar program, and on… Continue Reading
Register Your China Trademark Or Go Home
Posted in UncategorizedGot a very thoughtful comment the other day, stating the following: This blog is wonderful and there is a ton of useful information advice here as everyone knows. I don’t even need to say that because it is so obvious. However one thing I don’t understand is why you are constantly preaching to companies to… Continue Reading
China Customs Problem? Keep Your Mouth Shut!
Posted in UncategorizedI try hard not to be an ass, but sometimes it is impossible. The other day it was impossible. Months ago, a company wrote me because it was having a problem with one of their employees. This employee had left the company and at that moment, the company realized it should have made this employee… Continue Reading
China’s Music Industry
Posted in UncategorizedOur Beijing-based attorney, Mathew Alderson, is Co-Chair of AmCham China’s Media & Entertainment Forum. Each year the Forum puts together a chapter on media and entertainment for the AmCham China White Paper. As part of the research for the 2013 White Paper, Mathew interviewed Nathaniel Davis, a director of Split Works and Splatter, which are Shanghai and Beijing based live music/festival… Continue Reading
Registering Place Names As China Trademarks. Yes And No.
Posted in UncategorizedOne of the rules for filing a trademark in China is that geographical names are generally off limits. This can be both good and bad. If you make Seattle Suckers in China strictly for export from China, this is a good thing. It is a good thing because it means you do not need to… Continue Reading
Why China Deals Don’t Get Done. Part II, The Overseas Edition.
Posted in UncategorizedEarlier this year, I did a post entitled, Buying A Chinese Company? Why China Deals DON’T Get Done. In that post, I talked of how a very high percentage of the China deals on which my law firm represents the foreign buyer simply never happen. In our experience, a Chinese M & A deal is maybe… Continue Reading
How To Form A China Company (WFOE or JV). Hong Kong Entities. They’re Baaaaack. Part II.
Posted in UncategorizedLess than a month ago, we wrote a post, entitled, How To Form A China Company (WFOE or JV). Hong Kong Entities. They’re Baaaaack. The gist of that post was that my law firm was now favoring the forming of Special Purpose Entities in Hong Kong to hold the soon to be formed Mainland China Wholly Foreign… Continue Reading
Getting Money Out Of China. That’s Illegal.
Posted in UncategorizedGot a call the other day from a United States lawyer who had a Chinese client that wanted to buy a very expensive house in that other lawyer’s big city. The lawyer’s Chinese client had said that Chinese law limited them to taking only $50,000 out of China and so this lawyer was calling me… Continue Reading
Chinese Business Law Books You Should Own
Posted in UncategorizedWe constantly receive emails from readers seeking our advice on the books they should be reading to better understand China’s laws and legal systems. I respond to those emails by linking over to the most recent post listing out such books. Realizing, however, that our last list has gotten a bit long in the tooth,… Continue Reading
Good Guanxi Gone Bad. Connections Can Be Fleeting.
Posted in China Business, Legal News, UncategorizedJust had a discussion with a lawyer in my office on what can go wrong by “cutting legal corners” in China. I frequently have this discussion with clients who want us to take a shortcut (usually one advised by someone who will benefit financially from it) that will allegedly speed things up or cost more…. Continue Reading
To The China Expats Leaving: Don’t Let The Door Hit You On The Way Out
Posted in UncategorizedDid a post the other day, entitled, Will The Last Expat In China Please Turn Off The Lights? It was on how it seems so many well-known/well-respected expats are leaving China and writing about it. Got a lot of really good comments to that post, but the most recent one really stood it. It is… Continue Reading
Registering Companies In China. Kafka Is In the Building.
Posted in UncategorizedOne of the things we as lawyers face in trying to register companies, trademarks, licensing agreements, etc., in China are what I call the “little rules.” Does a document need to be notarized? Does it need to be appostilled? Does it need to be consularized? And if so, how must that document be notarized, appostilled,… Continue Reading
China Manufacturing Agreements. What We Like To See Before We Start Drafting.
Posted in UncategorizedCompanies usually call my law firm at the inception of their China product outsourcing plans. We tell them that unless and until they have at least some concept of what their contract is going to be with their Chinese manufacturer, it is too early to hire us to draft their manufacturing contract. There is just… Continue Reading
Chinese Manufacturing. Delivery Date? What Delivery Date?
Posted in UncategorizedOne of the most common problems we see between American companies and their Chinese manufacturers is “late” delivery. I put late in quotes because many times I think the problem is not so much that the Chinese manufacturer was late, but rather that the contract and the American buyer were unclear on the actual delivery… Continue Reading
Reflections On An Asia (Shanghai-Bangkok-Yangon-Beijing-Busan-Seoul) Tour
Posted in UncategorizedJust recently returned from a couple of weeks in Asia and ready to pore out my wholly random and pent up thoughts regarding the places I’ve been. Here goes, in chronological order: 1. Shanghai. The Good: I started my trip in Shanghai, where I went for the tail end of the Shanghai film festival. I… Continue Reading
Model Workers 2012. Best China Blogs.
Posted in UncategorizedFor the seventh straight year, Danwei has come out with its Model Workers List of best China blogs in various categories. Yes, China Law Blog is on the list, but honestly, we are running this link-over because the list is so thoughtful, so informative, and so thorough. Danwei’s blog list is considered by many (me… Continue Reading
The End Of Cheap China: Low Costs Eroding
Posted in UncategorizedJust read a really excellent Foreign Policy article, entitled, “The end of the Asian Miracle.“ The article is written by Antoine Van Agtmael, “the investment guru who coined the term ‘emerging markets.’” To grossly summarize, the thesis is that the following five pending “game changers” could bode ill for China and bode well for the… Continue Reading
China Business In A Down Economy. How We See It.
Posted in UncategorizedIn the last few months, we have been noticing perceptible shifts in what is happening to American (and other Western) businesses that are doing business in China or seeking to do so. Among other things, we have noticed the following: 1. A greatly increased number of people contacting us regarding problems with their China manufacturers…. Continue Reading
Foreigners In China. The Reality Edition.
Posted in UncategorizedJust read some really thoughtful blog posts on being a foreigner in China, by bloggers who ought to know. The first is Sinostand’s, “Foreigners in China: Weibo vs. Reality,” and it essentially says that despite a few extra anti-foreign diatribes in the last month or so that have gotten much media attention, day-to-day treatment of Laowai… Continue Reading
Protecting Your China IP. Me Thinks Thou Dost Worry Too Much.
Posted in UncategorizedOkay, so the title is a bit of an exaggeration, but it is true, at least to a certain extent. I just read two articles that got me to thinking about this. The first article, “The footwear firm that gave counterfeiters the boot,” is by BBC reporter Kim Gittleson. Ms Gittleson extensively interviewed me for… Continue Reading
Providing Service To Chinese Companies. Get Paid Upfront Or Don’t Bother.
Posted in UncategorizedBy: Steven M. Dickinson U.S. consulting companies are increasingly selling their services in China. This is part of the general trend towards sales into China that we have noted. In confirmation of this trend, we have recently worked with several U.S. based consultants in selling their services into China. The approach taken by U.S. consultants… Continue Reading
A List Of Chinese Manufacturers To Avoid And Why I Would (Sorta) Avoid The List
Posted in UncategorizedSo I got an email from a client the other day, sending me a link to a blog post, which in turn linked over to a “blacklist” (a word I hate and never use) of Chinese manufacturers. The client wanted to know what I thought of “such things.” Never one to miss a blogging opportunity,… Continue Reading
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