From time to time I get calls from start-up companies about to embark
on manufacturing in China. They are calling to ask what they need to do
“to protect themselves.”
I tell them about NNN Agreements and how they can help prevent potential manufacturers from replicating their product. And I tell them about how important it is that they have an OEM Agreement with their Chinese manufacture
Then I tell them how if they do nothing else, they should immediately register their trademarks in China. This one usually surprises them and they often think I have misunderstood what they are planning for China. They at first do not understand why I am emphasizing the need for their filing a trademark in China when they have no plans to sell their product in China. I then explain the following to them:
Then they understand.
I tell them about NNN Agreements and how they can help prevent potential manufacturers from replicating their product. And I tell them about how important it is that they have an OEM Agreement with their Chinese manufacture
Then I tell them how if they do nothing else, they should immediately register their trademarks in China. This one usually surprises them and they often think I have misunderstood what they are planning for China. They at first do not understand why I am emphasizing the need for their filing a trademark in China when they have no plans to sell their product in China. I then explain the following to them:
China is a first to file country, which
means that, with very few exceptions, whoever files for a particular
trademark in a particular category gets it. So if the name of your
company is XYZ and you make shoes and you have been manufacturing your
shoes in China for the last three years and someone registers the XYZ
trademark for shoes, that other company gets the trademark. And then,
armed with the trademark, that company has every right to stop your XYZ
shoes from leaving China because they violate its trademark.
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