We act for overseas brands and importers buying from Chinese factories, and never for the factory. We write the contracts your supplier can be held to in a Chinese court, and Tiantai Law Firm signs the engagement, issues the invoice and receives the fee.
Six services, all on the China end of your supply chain. Services 1 to 4 and 6 prevent problems; service 5 deals with them once they happen.
Before your first order with a new factory
A bilingual NNN agreement with both texts equally authentic, a manufacturing framework agreement and PO form, and mold and design ownership clauses. First draft in 5 business days; two revisions within 60 days.
Bilingual NNN agreements, manufacturing contracts and stock purchase contracts under PRC law, written to be enforced in the court where your supplier sits.
NNN USD 1,500Stock purchase contract 1,200Details ↗02Written ownership of molds, tooling and design files, so the factory cannot hold them hostage or run them for other buyers.
USD 1,500Details ↗03Defensive Chinese trademark filings, checks for squatted marks by factories or third parties, and action when a squatter gets there first.
USD 790First class, official fee includedDetails ↗04Before you pay a deposit: is it a factory or a trading company, who owns it, and does it have a litigation or enforcement record?
USD 890Per supplierDetails ↗05When a supplier takes the deposit and stops shipping, ships defective goods or sells your design: demand letters, asset freezes, litigation and arbitration in China.
USD 590Written assessment; demand letter 950Details ↗06Record your Chinese trademarks, patents or copyright with China Customs so suspected counterfeits can be detained at export.
USD 690First right; 290 each additionalDetails ↗Not sure where to start?Send us the factory or brand name and what you need. We reply in writing with a fixed quote within two business days.
Get a fixed quoteOr get the free checklistHan Feng is a partner in the Shanghai office of Tiantai Law Firm. Tiantai was founded in Beijing in 1994 and is one of the 15 largest law firms in China by headcount, with more than 2,700 lawyers (ALB China, 2025). It has offices across China and in Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta and Prague, and is ranked by Chambers for IP litigation in China.
You sign the engagement agreement with the firm, the firm issues the invoice, and your fee is paid to the firm, not to Han Feng personally. Where a factory sits in another province and the matter needs a local court, asset preservation or notarisation, lawyers at the local office can assist. Han Feng remains your point of contact throughout.
Visit Tiantai Law Firm's website ↗Lawyer numbers and ranking by size from ALB China, 2025 list of China's 30 largest law firms. Other figures from Tiantai Law Firm's website (firm overview and office list), checked October 2026.
Usually after money has gone out, when a mold is being held, when someone else has filed the brand, or when the supplier turns out to be a different company. The situations below show how we approach each one. They are illustrative and do not describe any particular client or outcome.
We check the factory's registration, assets and litigation record, review the dispute clause and evidence, then decide between a demand letter, an asset freeze and a claim in the factory's local court or in arbitration.
Claims Against Suppliers: Demand Letters, Arbitration & Litigation →We gather proof of payment and ownership, check what the contract says about tooling and liens, send a demand on law-firm letterhead and, if needed, sue for return with an application to preserve the molds.
Mold & Design Ownership →We check the filing date, use and evidence of bad faith, act within the opposition or invalidation deadlines, and file the Latin and Chinese marks you actually need so it does not happen again.
China Trademark Protection →We confirm who actually makes the product, then structure the contract so the manufacturer itself is bound by the NNN and the mold terms, not only the company you pay.
Supplier Background Checks →For anything that turns on Chinese law, you need a PRC-licensed lawyer. Foreign law firms' offices in China may not handle Chinese legal matters (Regulations on Representative Offices of Foreign Law Firms in China, art. 15), and a foreign company that sues or is sued in a Chinese court and wants a lawyer must instruct a PRC lawyer (Civil Procedure Law, art. 274). Your own lawyer stays in charge of your home market. We handle the China end and work with them.
In most matters, yes. Contracts, trademark filings and negotiations are handled remotely. For court proceedings a foreign company signs a power of attorney abroad, which is notarised and apostilled or legalised, and some courts also accept authorisation witnessed by video. We attend hearings in China.
His profile is on Tiantai Law Firm's website, in English and Chinese, which lists his firm email, hanfeng@tiantailaw.com, and the Shanghai office line, +86 21 6351 8888. You are welcome to write to either email address or call the office before you instruct us.
Often, yes, if you ever need to enforce it against the factory. A foreign judgment is difficult to enforce in China, and a Chinese court asked to apply foreign law needs that law proven. For factory contracts we usually recommend a bilingual contract with both texts equally authentic and checked clause by clause, PRC law, and a Chinese court or arbitration commission.
Yes, but the contract has to change. We structure it so the manufacturer itself signs the NNN and the mold terms, alongside the trading company you pay. Otherwise the company that holds your design and tooling owes you nothing directly.
All our services are fixed fees: USD 3,500 for the Factory Starter Package (one factory, one product line), USD 1,200 for a stock purchase contract, USD 790 for one trademark class (USD 390 for each additional class) and USD 890 for the full eleven-section supplier report (USD 590 per supplier when ordered with a contract package or for two or more suppliers). A supplier dispute assessment is USD 590 for one supplier and one order, a standalone mold and design ownership agreement is USD 1,500, a demand letter is USD 950 and customs IP recordal is USD 690 for the first right; litigation and arbitration are quoted per stage after we review the file. Anything beyond that scope is quoted in writing before we start and charged only with your approval. You receive a written fee proposal before engagement, and fees are paid to the law firm under a written engagement agreement. Fees and how we start lists every fee, the five steps to engagement and how to pay safely.
Not against a buyer. In disputes with Chinese suppliers, Han Feng acts for the overseas buyer and does not act for a factory against an overseas buyer.
No. Han Feng advises on PRC law. Those matters are for lawyers licensed in your sales markets: US counsel for a Schedule A lawsuit, European counsel for an infringement claim in Europe, and so on. Where a problem also has a China side, such as a factory that keeps selling your design, we handle that part and coordinate with your local counsel.
Tiantai Law Firm Shanghai Office
Room 1504, Block A, Oriental Financial Plaza, No. 1168, Century Avenue, Pudong New Area, Shanghai 200120, China
Firm switchboard +86 21 6351 8888