A practical guide to enforcing a foreign (non-Chinese) company's intellectual property rights (IPRs) against counterfeiters in China.

This note examines in detail each stage in an enforcement action, the enforcement options available and the role played by in-house counsel, external counsel, local counsel and investigatory firms, and sets out the typical profile of a China counterfeiter. It also includes practical tips on the issues that arise for legal counsel at each stage, such as choosing the correct enforcement target, managing enforcement spend, avoiding inadvertent anti-bribery and anti-corruption violations, and steps to take if and when the action is handed over to Chinese law enforcement.