As opening-up continues to deepen, intellectual property has become a core competitive advantage for county-level specialty products seeking to enter overseas markets, and companies going global are facing various overseas IP challenges. Once entangled in an overseas IP dispute, a company not only incurs high rights-protection costs but may also see its goods seized and orders lost, directly damaging its overseas market share. To effectively prevent various overseas IP risks and safeguard the county's foreign-related enterprises in steadily expanding into overseas markets, the Weishan County Market Supervision Administration has issued the following risk warning.

Types of overseas intellectual property risks

First, the risk of malicious trademark squatting. Because trademarks are territorial, if a company fails to register its trademark in the target overseas market in a timely manner, it may well find its trademark squatted by others. Vietnam, Indonesia, Nigeria and other countries are high-incidence areas; after a successful squatting, the squatter obstructs the company's normal overseas expansion through high compensation claims, customs seizures and other means, and the cost of rights protection is high and the cycle long.

Second, the risk of patent infringement litigation. Many countries and regions enforce strong patent protection; once a company's exported products are found to infringe another's patent rights, it may face severe consequences such as high compensation and a ban on sales. Some companies, because they did not conduct a patent infringement search before export, have had their products detained or destroyed upon entry, or have even been blacklisted by the industry, losing access to the target market.

Third, the risk of infringement complaints on cross-border e-commerce platforms. IP rights enforcement on major European and American cross-border e-commerce platforms is becoming increasingly routine. The number of batch lawsuits in which brand owners seek temporary restraining orders (TROs) through U.S. federal courts continues to rise. The risks cover trademark infringement, copyright infringement, design patent infringement and other types; once involved, a store's funds will be frozen and its products forcibly delisted. Some companies, because they failed to respond in a timely manner, have had default judgments entered against them and face high compensation.

Fourth, exhibition disputes. During overseas exhibitions, if exhibits or promotional materials are suspected of infringement, rights holders may apply for seizure of exhibits, closure of booths and temporary injunctions.

Fifth, the risk of OEM processing. In OEM/ODM contract manufacturing, if the commissioning party's IP authorization is not verified, the contract manufacturer may bear joint and several liability for compensation.

Key compliance points for enterprises

First, plan overseas rights confirmation in advance. Adhere to the principle of "IP first before market entry"; a domestically registered trademark has no extraterritorial protective effect, so companies planning to enter overseas markets must plan international trademark registration in advance, and may choose one of three channels: individual country-by-country registration, regional organization registration, or Madrid international trademark registration. To file an international registration through the Madrid system, a domestic base trademark that has been accepted or approved is required; within five years of the international registration taking effect, the trademark rights remain subject to the status of the domestic base trademark. Many countries have a system for revoking trademarks not used for three consecutive years, so after completing an overseas trademark registration, companies must properly retain genuine evidence of use such as product exports, exhibition participation and advertising, to prevent the trademark from being revoked.

Second, prudently undertake overseas OEM and ODM contract manufacturing business. When accepting commissioned processing orders from outside, including the sub-packaging of agricultural specialty products and the contract manufacturing of cultural and creative tie-dye products, companies must verify the commissioning party's ownership documents for trademarks, design rights and other IP, and clearly allocate IP infringement liability in the cooperation contract, so as to avoid bearing joint and several infringement compensation liability arising from commissioned processing.

Third, strengthen IP protection across the entire chain from R&D to production. At the project initiation stage, conduct searches of prior technology and prior designs; at the production and R&D stage, strengthen trade secret protection, exercise confidentiality control over process formulas, intangible cultural heritage patterns and processing techniques, restrict unrelated personnel from photographing or recording key processes, and ensure confidentiality agreements are signed for external cooperation projects; after the project is launched, comprehensively use patents, trademarks, design rights, copyright and other protection means to achieve all-round protection of technology, brands and cultural and creative achievements.

Fourth, actively respond to foreign-related disputes. If a company encounters an overseas IP dispute, it must never passively delay. It should secure relevant evidence at the first opportunity and proactively work with professional institutions to handle the matter properly, minimizing losses as much as possible.

Service consultation channels

Enterprises in Weishan County that need overseas IP risk screening, policy consultation, or that encounter overseas IP disputes should contact the market supervision department in a timely manner. Contact numbers: 12315, 0872-6350372.

Weishan County Market Supervision Administration

October 8, 2026