The global bazaar: and the laws that govern it.

• Author: Spendlove, Gretta

A UTAH COMPANY SELLS A DINOSAUR specimen to a Japanese museum and is surprised when its Japanese agent says the buyer will be offended if the contract is longer than three or four pages. Another Utah company provides high tech materials to a French company. It is dismayed to find that stringent European environmental regulations will delay the shipment. A third Utah company tries to buy a hotel in a Mexican resort town, only to find that it must form a Mexican corporation to hold the property. At least one shareholder in the Mexican corporation must have unlimited liability.

Utah companies are buyers and sellers in the rapidly expanding global marketplace. The business customs of that marketplace seem as exotic, at times, as the smells and sounds of a Cairo bazaar. Here are a few differences to keep in mind:

Intellectual Property

There are major differences in the filing deadlines for patents in the United States and abroad. In the U.S., a patent must be filed within one year of when the invention was first "in public use or on sale." In most foreign countries, the patent filing must be made before the product is disclosed or on sale. Companies wishing to sell patented products abroad should contact a patent lawyer early in their product development.

Patents, trademarks and copyrights filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office basically provide protection only within the United States. Foreign patents and trademarks can be very expensive. Whereas a U.S. trademark can be filed for a $275 to $325 filing fee and a few hours of attorney's time, the fees for obtaining European trademarks can skyrocket since there is a separate filing fee for most European countries.

Although Western countries, such as Canada, have easily accessible online data-bases to show whether a mark is available, less developed countries may have rudimentary databases, if any.

In countries of Eastern Europe, such as Bulgaria and Romania, constitutions are only 15 years old, with intellectual property laws trailing far behind. In China, intellectual property laws are not uniformly enforced, and a product manufactured there for a foreign company may turn up under another name on the street.

Contracts

Companies located in different countries must decide what law will govern their agreement. They should specify that law in the contract. Sometimes the law of a well-known American jurisdiction, such as New York or Delaware, is chosen. In commercial contracts, parties often...