No one around you has any idea about how things work, or they are lying to you. Figure that out first.
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What makes you think China will care?
Are they already stealing it?
No -> it's not worth it to them to steal they dgaf.
yes > it's worth it to them they dgaf
my biggest struggle has been finding alibaba manufacturers that will even make a thing for me...
Get yourself a good sourcing agent, you can find one on upwork or sourcebirds
Thanks for this!
Interesting gonna look that up
What’s a sourcing agent??
People who can find a manufacturer that you are looking for.
To everyone starting out: always, always hire one. They'll make sure you are woking with an actual factory and not a reseller, will review the certifications etc.
There are countless stories about how people lose all of theirs savings because they chose the wrong supplier.
Thanks for the tip!
How much do they normally charge?
Use yumari rather than alibaba. They help with product development, supplier matchmaking etc
Honestly, international patents are not recognized in China!
You need a Chinese patent! Which fortunately are relatively cheap and fairly easy to do!
Another thing you could do is get a NNN done and notarized, I do that all the time!
And most of the vendors on alibaba are trading companies so you need to ensure your NNN is valid for this use!
Hope that helps!
Sorry, what is NNN?
NNN (non-disclosure, non-use, and non-circumvention)
Note NNN needs to be in Chinese (if you include any other languages you need that officially translated and notarized).
It needs to be notarized in the city/province of the vendor properly stamped and signed by the other party.
You don’t have to be personally there but you need to be represented ~ it can be personal to you or your company!
Hope this is helpful!
So glad you asked bc i was confused how a triple net lease applied here 🤣🤣🤣
No Nut November
None of this matters unless you have the legal firepower to defend your patents.
Patent only applies to your country. I would not recommend exposing your patent to Chinese manufacturers.
European patent applies to whole of the EU. Then you file a patent for the US, Canada and Australia and have pretty much the whole western world covered
But obtaining a patent in one jurisdiction doesn't mean it will be granted elsewhere
Why not hire a lawyer and make sure you are protected? The law works in China just like anywhere else
This is the most comical thing I've ever read
As if they care
That may have the opposite intended effect
Bhahahahaha! Oh that’s funny!
I’m based in China, Chinese IP laws run parallel to western IP laws, meaning they don’t recognize international patents, they have their own, if you register your patent under a Chinese patent then you’ll be well protected but if you don’t do that step having a intl patent means nothing — NAL, just my basic understanding.
The famous case was the new balance Chinese brand name which was an issue for all of the 11 years I’ve been in china and I think only finally got settled a couple of years ago.
What if they copy the western patents and register them themselves ??
There is no such thing as an Alibaba manufacturer.
Jack Ma is an Alibaba manufacturer.
I think you start working on it and, if they try to copy your product- sue them😅(If patent applies to other country)
USPTO U.S. Patent & Trademark Office searches can be done online in seconds.
And, as someone has already commented, your Chinese contract manufacturers don't give a flying fuck.
They will rip off your design and run an 11 pm to 7 AM ghost shift manufacturing exact copies off the same machines of whatever design you gave them, and these ripoffs will appear on Amazon and TikTok Shop in a month 30% cheaper with free shipping (thanks a pantload, USPS for continuing your bullshit deal with China Post.)
Hahahahaha
They wouldn't care
But also
That can be checked
So if they cared, they would look and see you are lying
patent rules wont be effective in china
Lol sure
LOL! Probably be a sign to China manufacturer that it's a valuable idea and must be copied. What are you trying to get manufactured? Explore locally or other markets with a little better IP protection
Yes , you should tell Manfacturer , Sign a Agreement that your supplier will not share your information / desgin on internet
Everyone saying you need a Chinese patent is technically right, but probably providing useless info since it’s doubtful OP could file internationally by the time they have an issued US patent (I’m assuming that’s the situation—they don’t actually mention a country).
That said, they could go after imports at the FTC.
If your design is complicated, try having different parts made by different manufacturers. In that fashion, no one house has the complete design to recapitulate.
Use yumari rather than alibaba. The patent is still unlikely to protect you - though Mexico is friendlier than china on these issues. But mexican manufacturers themselves are way less likely to steal IP than the Chinese.
What makes you think the Chinese give a shit about your American patent? They don’t care about apple, Sony or Microsoft why are they going to care about some dude?
I’ve filed several patents and I can tell you in order to enforce them you need a shit load of money or a company that’s made a ton of money off of your product and a slimy lawyer to take the case.
Depending what it is and where you are, what some businesses do is get the parts shipped and assemble/finish in Europe. This has the added bonus circumventing dumping duties.
Also, depending what it is, western manufacturing can offer extremely competitive pricing on certain things as well as offering better quality.
Sounds like you'd just be telling them your product is worth copying.
They will steal it even harder then.
…… am I the only one picking up that OP is asking if they should bluff?
Just my guess, but I think OP doesn’t have a patent to begin with, they just want to bluff that they do to the manufacturer to prevent stealing of the idea, while probably producing and selling the first round to then pay for the patent…
Either way - save your breath unless you’re going to get it protected by the laws governing where you’re having it manufactured
Focus on finding the best manufacturer you can and hope for a great collaboration, don't let the fear consume you from taking action!
They won't even pay attention to your email, what's the point. Unless you are very successful and you can sue them when they use your* idea i doubt there is any point worrying about any of that.