International Manufacturing Lawyers

How to Avoid Getting Scammed When Buying Product Overseas (Including from Alibaba)

It is a helluva lot easier and cheaper to avoid losing money than to recover money that has already been lost. Whether you use Alibaba or not, there are certain "rules" you should follow when sourcing products from China and those rules include (1) conducting due diligence on your potential supplier, (2) protecting your IP, and (3) having a good contract with your supplier. And yes, all of this applies no matter what the color star your supplier has on Alibaba.

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China copyright registrations

Copyrights and U.S. Customs, Part 2

This post is the second part of the second installment in a multipart series designed to help right holders and importers better understand the opportunities and obligations that attach to intellectual property rights (IPR) in the U.S. Customs regulatory environment. Part 1 of the second installment discussed copyright infringement levels recognized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection

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China copyright registration lawyers

Copyrights and U.S. Customs, Part 1

We are pleased to present the second installment in a multipart series designed to help right holders and importers better understand the opportunities and obligations that attach to intellectual property rights (IPR) in the U.S. Customs regulatory environment. The focus of this installment is on copyrights. Owing to the diversity of considerations wrapped up in

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China manufacturing lawyers

Your Company and China: Should You Divest, Decouple, or Double-Down?

Economist Magazine just came out with an article discussing what companies involved in China are doing these days with China, what they are thinking of doing in the future with China, and what they should do in the future with China. The article is entitled, Multinational firms are finding it hard to let go of

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Harris Bricken Attorney Jonathan Bench to Speak at HLB Conference

Harris Bricken attorney Jonathan Bench will be attending the HLB North American Advisory, Tax & Audit Conference next month in San Diego. He will be joined by Mike Criddle, Tax Partner at Eide Bailly LLP, to host two informative panel discussions. The first panel, titled “When to Call the Lawyer: Legal Structuring and Litigation Support

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Shutting down your China WFOE

China WFOE Shutdowns: Fast or Legal?

A while back (I am being intentionally vague here to avoid identifying anyone) a U.S. client company contacted our China lawyers about shutting down its China WFOE and/or terminating all of its roughly 47 China employees in one fell swoop. The U.S. company had discovered rampant corruption among its employees and its CEO wanted the

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China manufacturing lawyer

Seeking Manufacturing Market Stability in China and Beyond

Recently I spoke with an entrepreneur in my hometown who is sourcing packaging in China for his startup. This post contains his questions and my answers, together with additional questions from a number of my prior speaking engagements. What advice do you have regarding dealing with sourcing in China in the current environment? Recognize Your

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Trademarks and international trade

IPR and International Trade: Trademarks, Part 2

This post is part of a multipart series designed to help right holders and importers better understand the opportunities and obligations that attach to intellectual property rights (IPR) in the international trade regulatory environment. The first installment in this series is on trademarks, and is split into two parts. Part 1 explored infringement levels recognized by

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