November 19, 2021

What Are The Main Risks To Your Product IP?

45 minutes

In this episode...

Anyone with an innovative product idea will understandably be worried about it being copied and sold on the market in competition with their own original product. To illustrate the dangers and some solutions, Renaud explores who might be the main risks to your product IP when developing and manufacturing a new product with Adrian from the team.

These actors may be either within or from outside of your supply chain, and they can strike either early on in the new product launch process or after your product has been on the market for a while.

Being forewarned is to be forearmed, so listen to and understand who these threats are and get some tips from Renaud to mitigate or avoid the risks altogether in order to keep your precious intellectual property as safe as possible.

This episode is based on just one chapter of our free new guide: IP Protection in China when Developing Your New Product [Importer’s Guide].

Here's a visual representation of the content we cover in this episode:

Show Sections

00:00 - Greetings & introduction

00:58 - A chat about rising covid infections in China and what it might mean

05:37 - Today's topic - sources of risks to your product IP when developing and manufacturing it in China. This is based on this new guide from Sofeast: IP Protection in China when Developing Your New Product [Importer’s Guide].

06:36 - What kinds of products are most at risk of having their IP compromised and misused?

09:33 - What are the main risks to someone who's developing and manufacturing a new product? There are 4 situations to be aware of:

Being copied early from within your supply chain

Being copied early from outside of your supply chain

Being copied later from within your supply chain

Being copied later from outside of your supply chain

12:30 - (1). Who's at risk of copying us early from within our supply chain and what can be done to avoid it?

19:28 - Compartmentalizing the supply chain.

21:07 - Legal tools to prevent or mitigate being copied.

23:18 - (2). Who's at risk of copying us early from outside of our supply chain and what can be done to avoid it?

28:45 - Why copycat products can be made by companies anywhere, not just in China.

31:05 - The difference between copying a product idea and counterfeiting one.

34:01 - (3). Who's at risk of copying us later on from within our supply chain and what can be done to avoid it?

38:16 - (4). Who's at risk of copying us later on from outside of our supply chain and what can be done to avoid it?

41:27 - Patents as protection.

41:55 - Wrapping up