Legal Articles & Insights

United States: Pricing, suppliers, customer lists, channel discounts, training materials and product plans are widely shared in distribution relationships. After a leak, the difficult questions are what was truly confidential, who had access, when it was

United States: Cross-border distribution may combine a USD contract, EUR quotes and payment in RMB or local currency, plus bank charges, withholding tax, VAT/GST, customs duties and third-party payment routes. Parties can end up disagreeing on the amount

United States: Who owns a customer developed by the distributor? The brand may say the customer came for the brand; the distributor may say it paid for acquisition and service. CRM, after-sales records and personal data also raise privacy issues beyond a

United States: Deposits are often described simply as refundable after the relationship ends, without conditions, deductions, evidence standards or timing. The brand then withholds for alleged losses while the distributor demands immediate return.

United States: Many disputes fail because the business knows what happened but cannot prove it. Employees leave, accounts close, platform messages expire, phones change and email access disappears before formal proceedings begin.

United States: “Exclusive” creates false certainty. A distributor may believe every customer in a country belongs to it, while the brand may reserve key accounts, e-commerce or cross-border orders. The real issue is whether exclusivity applies to territor

United States: War, sanctions, pandemics, port disruption, raw-material shocks or policy changes do not automatically excuse performance. The contract, causation, foreseeability, notice, mitigation and alternatives matter.

United States: When a franchise or license launch fails, the key question is what the fee actually purchased: a non-refundable right of entry, or a bundle of site selection, training, systems and launch support? Undelivered services can change the refund

United States: Cross-territory movement of genuine goods is not a simple issue. Distributors focus on territorial investment and price structure; brands focus on channel integrity and warranty; consumers see the same product at different prices. Legal lim

United States: Inventory is often the largest practical exit issue. Where stock was required by the brand, purchased to preserve exclusivity or devalued by a sudden product change, a generic “inventory risk is distributor risk” clause may not resolve ever

United States: “Governing law” and “where to sue” are different. Whether a court has jurisdiction, how process is served abroad and whether a judgment can be enforced where assets sit are separate questions. Many contracts address only the governing law.

United States: Website inquiries, trade shows, head-office referrals, distributor advertising and local relationships may all touch the same customer. Without lead registration and protection rules, attribution becomes a recurring internal conflict.