For a variety of reasons, many brands (and not just American ones) include U.S. state names in their trademarks. However, registering state name trademarks in China is an uphill battle for most applicants. Brands doing or planning to do business in China should keep this in mind when crafting their brand protection strategies. Why Won’t
Biden's decision to extend solar trade wars and modify tariffs shows climate change is as important as protecting US manufacturers.
Is China too big to fail? Evergrande’s insolvency shows that state control over China's banking system does not eliminate systemic risk in the Chinese economy.
For reasons that ought to be apparent to anyone who reads the news, our China lawyers have of late been getting many emails from foreign companies looking at shutting down their China WFOE or just flee from China. Reduced to their essence, these emails usually focus on one of the following questions: 1. How do I do it correctly? 2. If I don't do it correctly, what are the possible repercussions? Will I be safe in China? We answer both questions in this post.
China cyber hacking obviously affects companies that do business in or with China but it is becoming increasingly apparent that it also impacts companies with no direct business connections to China. This post explains the Chinese government's cyber hacking goals, how it does its hacking, and why it is virtually impossible for foreign companies to avoid being hacked by the Chinese government or to fight back against it.
When selling products or services to China, it is important that you have protections in place to ensure that you actually get paid.
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
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.
Chinese businesses typically want a simple, specific, concrete proposal to which they can respond. If the foreign side leaves the structure vague, the Chinese side will usually have nothing to say. In this situation, a deal that may be good for both sides never gets done because neither side can bring it to the point where the real bargain is negotiated. The Chinese side virtually always wants to show its cards last. If you do not show your cards first, there will be no cards back from the Chinese side.
On December 6, I was a guest lecturer at Florida State University (FSU), providing an overview of what’s happening in China these days. I ended the lecture by making some educated guesses about what the future holds for China. Here is the gist of it. 1. One More Decade of Xi It is fair to
