1. What is IP?
Intellectual Property (IP) is the application of law for creative works, and generally relates to 3 specific areas:
- Trademarks – mainly related to branding, it encompasses images, words, or combinations of both which represent a product or company.
- Patents – relates to inventions and can be applied to the physical appearance, functionality, or composition of a product.
- Copyrights – related to creative content such as written words, video content, designs and artwork.
If you are selling on Amazon, a good first step will be to review Amazon’s Intellectual Property Policy for Sellers.
2. Why is IP protection important?
We’ve seen so many online sellers complain that they see competitors or even suppliers selling their products. In extreme cases we have even seen the competitor or supplier being able to claim IP infringement against the original creator of the product, basically hijacking the item and preventing them from selling it. In cases such as these it will come down to what kind of IP protection each party has over the product.
Because of the nature of Chinese IP law generally being based on a “first to file” basis, there is very little you will be able to do even if you can prove that you created the item. IP protection is complicated and varies in different legal jurisdictions around the world. There are some international protocols which apply to multiple countries/markets, including some that China adhere to, but usually, when related to China, you need to have specific protection under Chinese law.
3. What you can do about it
Registering IP protection in China is actually not very expensive and can be quite a simple process (using local agents or lawyers).
Bear in mind, even if you have a patent, trademark or copyright for your product, that doesn’t mean that you are fully protected. No IP protection is going to prevent anyone from copying your product. Protecting your IP will, however, give you some power to control the outcome when your product is copied.
For example, let’s imagine you have registered a patent for your creative new widget. You source a factory to create it and then not long after you start selling it, you see the same item listed by a competitor (or perhaps even your supplier). If you have IP protection of the product that has been infringed by a competitor or supplier, you can potentially take control of those goods by having them blocked for sale on the platform they are being sold, or even physically stopped in transit before export from China.
When it comes to IP protection, there is no such thing as morals or ethics. Regardless of original creation, whoever has the more relevant legal protection will prevail in a dispute. If you have a potential IP issue, feel free to email us the details and we may be able to point you in the right direction to get protected.
