The Petrifying Patent Problems With Overseas Manufacturing: Securing Your Idea at the Factory

Here’s the true cost of manufacturing your invention overseas. The minute you send your blueprints to a manufacturer, you introduce a massive risk of intellectual property theft.

The Horror: When an idea is copied overseas, it’s virtually impossible for a small business to stop it. Your U.S. patent is powerful here, but useless in their jurisdiction. International patents can help, but they’re really only as good as your ability to pay for lawyers overseas to defend them against infringement. Large corporations can handle that cost far better than small businesses.

Your Defense: The Contract Chains

You must bind your manufacturer with an iron-clad contract that includes:

1. IP assignment clauses explicitly stating all resulting intellectual property belongs to you.
2. Strong non-disclosure clauses (or separate Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs)) for everyone involved to protect confidentiality.
3. Audit and termination rights clauses allowing you to inspect their facility and clearly defining penalties for unauthorized production.

Like with international patents, though, the cost of hiring lawyers here or overseas to help you if the manufacturer doesn’t abide by the contract can be significant.

The best protection against the likely problems with overseas manufacturing is to have your invention manufactured in the U.S. Yes, that may be more expensive in terms of manufacturing costs, but what you may save in enforcement costs may be worth it.

Whether you have your product manufactured in the U.S. or overseas, don’t start production without legal chains securing your intellectual property, and be prepared to hire lawyers here and overseas to help you enforce these contracts!