Protection of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in China is a concern to many companies. Since China joined the WTO, the system protecting intellectual properties has been improved but there are still concerns regarding a lack of effective enforcement. The culture of respecting intellectual property and patent protection is still behind that of developed countries but it is gradually changing.

TriVista takes the following practical steps and precautions in protecting the intellectual properties and confidentiality of our clients' products.

• TriVista will sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) with our clients to cover our personnel but this agreement obviously has to allow us to release certain information to the Chinese manufacturers in getting quotations, samples and products manufactured.
  


• For products and components where the application is not obvious, TriVista attempts to keep both the details of its client and also the product application background from the manufacturer in China. We feel that keeping the manufacturer one step away from the client and unaware of the product application stops the manufacturer from having an incentive to readily copy the product or components.
  


• Many of our clients deal with intellectual protection by only outsourcing the manufacture of components and not the complete product. This gives protection in that the Chinese manufacturer is unaware of the other components making up the complete product. Outsourcing of non-confidential product components can also enable clients to concentrate on their high value added core competency and the innovative, intellectual property components of their product.
  


• Another practical method we have used to help our clients deal with intellectual protection is to use more than one Chinese manufacturer to supply the different components making up a product. This prevents one manufacturer from having all the details of the client’s product. However, this is not always practical and also depends on where the final assembly is to be done.
  


• On a product reaching the production stage, TriVista usually gets the Chinese company to sign a commercial contract agreeing to limit manufacture of the indicated bespoke product for TriVista and hence their client only. This contract also covers preventing the disclosure of products technical details. This step usually depends on the products IP requirements and still has limitations.
  


• For cases where the complete product is to be manufactured and its application is obvious, TriVista advises their clients to take out the appropriate protection for their intellectual property, such as patents, and also to get the Chinese manufacturer to sign a more binding commercial contract. Even when a patent is obtained, there are still issues of reinforcement and the associated costs. However, by putting the necessary protection in place, a burden is placed onto potential product pirates and if a patent breach is proven they will face severe economic consequences.

Conclusion:

At the outset, it may look a rather risky venture to take a new product idea to China. However, when sufficient precautions are taken, the advantage of selling a product costing less and at high volumes from the beginning probably outweighs the potential risks.

Websites from our links page provide further information on patenting in China, UK and Europe.

If you think that outsourcing manufacturing will possibly help your business to reduce costs and improve competitiveness, we will be glad to help. TriVista can help you obtain the highest quality at the best price by outsourcing your manufacturing to China. To find out more, please contact us.