How To Sue A Chinese Company

One of our clients had a manufacturing agreement that clearly gave it ownership of the molds sitting in its Chinese factory. When the factory refused to return them, we had a Chinese litigation lawyer file suit. Within about five days, the court froze the factory's bank accounts. The next day, the factory released the molds. That kind of speed is unusual. It happened because three things lined up: the client had a contract written to be enforced in China, the defendant had money a Chinese court could reach, and the remedy was aimed directly at that money. Before I recommend suing anywhere, I want to know whether a case has those same fundamentals.

You can sue a Chinese company in a Chinese court or, if jurisdiction exists, in a U.S. court or another court outside China. If the parties agreed to arbitrate, the dispute usually belongs in arbitration instead. Because most Chinese companies keep most of their assets in China, the shortest path to getting paid usually runs through a