7. Trademark your intellectual property.

Intellectual property violations are a big issue for foreign investors in China. Many U.S. manufacturers believe that because they have a trademark at home, it will hold up in China, but that's not the case. In China, the first person to register a trademark owns the rights to it, regardless of whether or not that person is the first person to use the trademark.

"Somebody could go register what you thought was your trademark," Harris says. "Then, when you're about to ship $3 million worth of product, and your product's held up at the port, you get a phone call from someone saying, 'You're using my trademark, and I'd like to sell it to you for $300,000 a year.' If you don't pay them for the trademark, your goods will never leave China."

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)