Recent enquiries from new clients have highlighted the potentially costly legal consequences of sourcing products from the Far East.
Many small businesses source their products in China. The low costs and the flexibility of manufacture make it a no-brainer, despite the need to ship products half-way round the world.
However, without proper preparations in advance of placing any order, a small business could be faced with damaging legal challenges. Here are our five tips on what to do to avoid these:
- If you designed the product, consider registering the design as soon as the final form is settled – register in those countries where you will be selling your products. This could greatly strengthen your position if you are going to sell in an on-line marketplace such as E-Bay or Amazon.
- If the product design is one offered to you by the supplier, carry out checks to make sure that it does not infringe another company’s rights – don’t take the supplier’s word for it!
- If the brand applied to the goods is your own, establish your ownership of the brand by registering it as your trademark before asking the supplier to apply it to the product/packaging.
- Before you settle on a brand, check for conflicts with existing brands and make sure that it is suitable for registration – not all “brands” are registrable, and getting too close to an existing registered trademark could give rise to legal action.
- Do these steps for each new product you add.
We can help with all these steps. Talk to Keith Loven or Tim Fray on 01522 801111 before you place that first order.