How to PREVENT Suppliers From STEALING your Product Idea 💡

Summary

In this informative video, Kian Gozari, with 12 years of experience in China's manufacturing industry, shares tips on protecting product ideas from supplier theft. He advises on non-disclosure agreements, emphasizes building trust, and stresses the importance of design patents for true innovation. Kian also discusses the value of maintaining a strong brand identity and the futility of trying to prevent all imitation in a competitive market.

Takeaways

• 📝 Get a supplier to sign an NNN agreement for significant innovations, but be aware it might not start the relationship on the right foot.
• 🤝 Prioritize building a relationship with your manufacturer, as trust can be a stronger deterrent to copying than legal documents.
• 🚫 Understand that competitors, not necessarily suppliers, are often the ones copying your product.
• 💡 Self-awareness is key; evaluate if your innovation truly warrants an NNN agreement or if it's just a minor tweak to an existing product.
• 🛡️ Consider design or utility patents for substantial innovations to legally protect your product globally.
• 🏭 Maintain a good relationship with your supplier as it can deter them from sharing your ideas with others.
• 🔍 Start by sharing a similar product with suppliers to gauge their capabilities without revealing your innovation initially.
• 🤔 Embrace the nature of the industry where imitation and innovation go hand in hand; use it as motivation for continuous improvement.
• 🎉 View product copying as validation of your success and a sign that you're creating desirable products.
• 🛠️ Invest in molds for your product, and ensure your logo is embossed to create a barrier to unauthorized copying.
• 🏆 Building a strong brand is the ultimate protection; focus on brand loyalty and community over just the product itself.

Q & A

What is the primary concern addressed in the video script?

The video script addresses concerns about suppliers potentially stealing product ideas.

Who is the presenter of the video and what is his background?

The presenter is Kian Gozari, who has been living and working in China for 12 years, designing, developing, sourcing, and manufacturing over two and a half thousand different products.

What is the first tip given by Kian to protect an innovative product from suppliers?

The first tip is to get the supplier to sign a non-use, non-circumvention, and non-disclosure (NNN) agreement.

Why might an NNN agreement not be the best approach according to the video?

An NNN agreement might not start the relationship off on the right foot and enforcing it can be expensive and time-consuming, especially if it requires suing the supplier in China.

What is the presenter's view on who is more likely to copy a product?

Kian suggests that it's often a competitor who buys the product and sends it to another supplier to copy, rather than the original supplier.

What is the second tip provided for protecting an innovative product?

The second tip is to get a design patent or a utility patent on the actual product to prevent anyone from copying it.

What does Kian suggest as a method to build trust with suppliers?

Kian suggests sending an email to the supplier expressing the desire for a long-term relationship and asking for their trust not to share the design or product with others.

What is the presenter's advice on dealing with competitors who copy product designs?

Kian advises to view it as validation of good work and to use it as confidence to develop more products, rather than letting it cause frustration.

What is the significance of investing in molds for a product according to the video?

Investing in molds creates a high barrier to entry for others to copy the product, and it provides an opportunity to add a logo to the mold, making it unique and harder to replicate.

Why is building a brand considered a form of protection against product copying?

Building a brand and community means that customers buy products because of the brand, not just the lowest price or the product itself, making it difficult for others to compete even if they copy the product.

What is the presenter's final advice on how to handle product copying?

The final advice is to focus on creating a unique brand experience and community, as people can copy a product but they cannot copy the brand and the values it represents.

Outlines

00:00

📝 Protecting Your Product Ideas with Supplier Agreements

In the first paragraph, Kian Gozari, an experienced product developer and manufacturing expert based in China, addresses the concern of idea theft by suppliers. He suggests getting suppliers to sign a non-use, non-circumvention, and non-disclosure (NNN) agreement, but emphasizes the importance of building a relationship with the supplier over legal documents. Kian shares his experience, noting that most product copies come from competitors, not suppliers. He advises that an NNN agreement should only be used for groundbreaking innovations and recommends starting with trust and a simple request for confidentiality.

05:01

🛡️ Securing Your Innovations with Patents and Strong Supplier Relationships

The second paragraph focuses on the importance of obtaining design or utility patents to protect innovative products globally. Kian advises that a good relationship with suppliers can prevent copying, as they value the relationship and trust more than a one-time profit from selling to competitors. He also discusses the strategy of sharing a similar but not fully innovative product with multiple suppliers to gauge their capabilities before revealing the actual innovation to the chosen one. Kian encourages viewers to subscribe for more insights and mentions his various offerings, such as sourcing platforms and coaching.

10:03

🤝 Building Trust and Brand Strength as Protection Against Copycats

In the final paragraph, Kian discusses strategies for dealing with product copying, including sharing a similar product with suppliers to protect the truly innovative aspects, having a mindset that imitating is part of the industry, and using product molds with embossed logos as a barrier to entry. He stresses that while others may copy a product, they cannot replicate a brand, and building a strong brand and community is the ultimate defense. Kian wraps up by inviting viewers to engage with him on social media and explore his sourcing platform and agency.

Keywords

💡Supplier

A supplier is a company or individual that provides goods or services to other businesses or individuals. In the context of the video, the concern is that a supplier might steal the client's product idea. The video discusses the importance of building a relationship with suppliers to mitigate this risk, as well as the use of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) to protect intellectual property.

💡Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA)

An NDA is a legal contract that establishes a confidential relationship between parties, typically to protect trade secrets or proprietary information. The video emphasizes the importance of having suppliers sign an NDA to safeguard ideas, but also notes the challenges in enforcing such agreements in foreign jurisdictions like China.

💡Innovation

Innovation refers to the process of creating new ideas, methods, or products that are novel and potentially valuable. The video script discusses the need for self-awareness regarding the level of innovation in one's product, suggesting that significant innovation might warrant an NDA, while minor tweaks may not.

💡Design Patent

A design patent is a type of intellectual property right that protects the visual design of a product. The video emphasizes obtaining a design patent as a strong form of protection against copying, as it provides legal recourse against manufacturers or others who might infringe upon the design rights.

💡Relationship Building

Relationship building is the process of establishing and nurturing positive connections with others, often in a business context. The video stresses the importance of developing a good relationship with suppliers to prevent them from copying products, as a strong relationship can act as a deterrent against unethical behavior.

💡Mold

In manufacturing, a mold is a container for shaping raw material, often used in processes like casting or injection molding. The video mentions investing in molds as a way to protect a product design, particularly by incorporating logos into the mold to create a unique, difficult-to-copy feature.

💡Brand

A brand represents the identity of a company or product, often associated with a unique set of values, experiences, and customer loyalty. The video argues that while products can be copied, a brand cannot, emphasizing the importance of brand building as a defensive strategy against imitation.

💡Imitation

Imitation refers to the act of copying or mimicking something, often used in the context of product design. The video script suggests that imitation is a form of flattery and validation of one's success, and it encourages viewers to use this as motivation for further innovation.

💡Community

In a business context, a community refers to a group of people who share common interests or goals, often built around a brand or product. The video discusses building a community as part of brand building, which can foster loyalty and provide a defense against product copying.

💡Packaging

Packaging is the process of enclosing or protecting products for distribution, sale, or use. The video highlights the importance of investing in packaging as a way to express brand identity and create a unique, memorable experience for customers.

💡Influencer

An influencer is an individual who has the power to affect the purchasing decisions of others because of their authority, knowledge, or relationship with their audience. The video touches on the role of influencers in promoting a brand and building a community, suggesting that this can be a strategic part of a brand's defense against product copying.

Highlights

The importance of having a supplier sign a non-use, non-circumvention, and non-disclosure (NNN) agreement to protect your product idea.

The necessity for an NNN agreement to be enforceable in both English and Chinese, including the supplier's company stamp.

The emphasis on building a relationship with your manufacturer over the use of NNN agreements to start a business relationship on the right foot.

The reality that competitors, not suppliers, are often the ones copying products by sending them to other suppliers.

The high cost and difficulty of enforcing NNN agreements in China, including hiring a Chinese lawyer and navigating unfamiliar laws.

The suggestion to use NNN agreements only for groundbreaking innovations and to be self-aware of the actual innovation level of your product.

The recommendation to send an email to suppliers expressing the desire for a long-term relationship and trust in handling your product design.

The advice to obtain a design or utility patent for real innovations to protect against global copying.

The significance of having a good relationship with your supplier to deter them from copying your product due to the value of the relationship.

The strategy of sharing a similar product, not the innovation, with multiple suppliers to get quotes and narrow down to a preferred supplier before revealing the innovation.

The mindset that imitating and innovating on top of products is part of the industry's nature and should not be a concern if done in a competitive manner.

The perspective that being copied is validation of your product's success and should be taken as a confidence booster for further innovation.

The suggestion to invest in molds for your product as a barrier to entry and a way to add your logo to the product shape.

The importance of having an embossed logo on molds to prevent others from copying the product shape.

The ultimate defense against product copying is building your own brand and community, which cannot be replicated by others.

The role of packaging as a significant way to showcase your brand to your audience and the importance of investing in it.

The call to action for viewers to engage with the content, like the video, subscribe, and follow on social media for more insights.

Transcripts

so you've come up with the next best

product in the world but you're

concerned that your supplier might steal

your idea well this is the video for you

[Music]

yes yes and welcome back to the official

assortment key on YouTube channel if

you're new to the channel my name is

Kian gozari and I've been living and

working in China for the past 12 years

in that time I've designed development

source and manufactured over two and a

half thousand different products visited

more than 500 factories and attended

more than 20 Canton fairs that's led me

to work for different brands retailers

and licenses such as the NBA the

Olympics the United Nations Ministry of

Defense plus Amazon Shopify Sellers and

a bunch of big box retailers in the UK

Europe and the US

if you're new to the channel I would

greatly greatly appreciate if you could

smash that like button and subscribe so

you can stay up to date on the latest of

what's happening in China now let's get

into the video okay so tip number one

and this is probably the most obvious

one is get your supplier to sign a n n

agreement now this is a non-use

non-circumvention and non-disclosure

document but for this document to be

enforceable it has to be written in both

English and Chinese and you need to get

um the their company stamp or their

company chop uh stamped on a document as

well a word of caution with this like in

all my years of developing manufacturing

products uh I've only got my suppliers

to sign one nnn document and it's

because if you've seen much more content

before I always prioritize the

importance and preach the importance of

building a relationship with your

manufacturer now if you give your

supplier an nnn document that's like you

telling them hey I want you to

manufacture my products but I don't

trust you and you might copy me so I

need you to sign this document it

doesn't necessarily start your

relationship off on the right food and

the other thing is most people think

their supplier is going to copy them but

in actual fact it's a competitor which

buys your product sends it to another

supplier and that other supplier then

copies you so it's quite often not your

actual supplier that you need to be

worried about essentially the nnn is a

piece of paper it's very expensive to

enforce because for you to actually

enforce it means that you'll have to go

and sue your supplier in China you have

to hire a Chinese lawyer it can be a

very expensive and time-consuming

process in a country where you don't

necessarily know the law so it's not

really going to be worth it for you now

I would only say using nnn agreement if

you've developed and invented the next

microwave or the next electric

toothbrush which can clean all sorts of

other things at the same time this has

never been seen before so I have to

protect this idea that's fair enough but

you have to be very self-aware of what

is actually your Innovation if you've

just slightly changed the design of a

product or you've changed the pattern of

it or you've changed the material or

you've made it a little bit larger for a

different Market or whatever that

doesn't necessarily require

um and in an agreement so just be

self-aware do you really need it have

you brought something to the market of

real Innovation if you have then go for

it and if not just work on building that

relationship send an email to the

supplier to say hey I really value uh

working with you for the long term I'll

look forward to developing many

different products with you I would

really appreciate your trust in this

matter and not share this design or

product with any other customer that

would be greatly appreciated please

confirm in writing and then that's just

same then them you think to them hey I

trust you please don't violate the trust

and then that's the start of your

relationship and that's the way I

proceed with that one okay so tip number

two which is the ultimate form of

protection this is what I think everyone

should be doing in the first instance is

that if you do have something of real

Innovation that you want to protect get

a design patent or a Utility Patent on

your actual product so that no one can

actually copy you so and if you get that

as a worldwide patent if anyone wants to

sell your product in China Australia

Japan USA UK Europe well you can legally

take them off sale because you have that

design patent of that product now if you

don't get a design patent then that

probably means that the Innovation

wasn't large enough for you to get the

supplier to sign in in an agreement so

if you feel like you've brought

something of real Innovation get a

design patent so your product design is

protected from not only your supplier

but from the rest of the world as well

so tip number three to prevent you from

getting your product design copied is

have a good relationship with your

supplier if you've seen much of my

content before I preach the importance

of building a relationship so why would

your supplier copy you if they're very

good friends with you they don't want to

take out one of their customers which is

also one of their good friends so the

better relationship that you have the

more open they are with you the less

they're likely to want to take any of

your product ideas and quite a lot of

your suppliers don't even sell products

themselves as well and if they do have

other customers they don't go sharing

your private information with their

other customers as well because they

don't want to damage your relationship

and they don't want to lose you as a

customer your orders are the most

important thing to them and they would

not risk and jeopardize that hey guys if

you are getting value from this video

I'd greatly appreciate it if you can

smash that like button real quick and if

you could tap the Bell ding ding to be

notified when I bring you new videos

like this

and remember I do have loads of cool

things for you down in the links them in

the description down below this against

the cool stuff sourcing platform

sourcing agency masterminds one-on-one

coaching all that sort of fun stuff so

check out the links in the description

down below and let's get back to the

video okay so tip number four right if

I've got something of real Innovation or

maybe just a slight little tweak but I

need to go and talk to 10 different

suppliers or whatever to get the best

price and to find out what their

capabilities are but I don't want to

share my Innovation so what I would do

is I would take a product similar to

what my Innovation is so let's say for

example I've got a outdoor camping stool

right which is a tripod stool and it's

got a really cool handle on the sides

which I've no one's ever done before so

what I would do is I would take that

tripod camping stool without the handle

on the site and I would share that with

my different suppliers and I would get

the prices samples quotations analyzer

communication how many years I've been

in business what certifications they've

got all that sort of stuff and narrow it

down from 10 suppliers to five to maybe

examples from three and then I would

select my favorite supplier one once

I've selected that favorite supplier now

I'm going to share with them my

Innovation so I didn't actually have to

share it with those 10 suppliers I still

found a similar product narrowed it down

and when I got my favorite supplier

which is the one I'm most likely to work

with now I've shared my Innovation so

those other suppliers never saw the

Innovation only the supplier which I

actually ended up working with the other

thing tip number five is more of a

mindset thing imitating and innovating

on top of products is kind of the nature

of the game like

how did you get the idea for the product

you're developing right now you

essentially saw something out there

you're like I can improve that a little

bit I can change something I can tweak

something and I can bring out an Xbox

best version so I'm going to study my

competition I'm going to make sure I'm

better and I'm going to bring out that

next iteration so if someone does that

to you and sees your product and makes a

small tweak to it don't get concerned

because that's just the nature of the

game that we play in and leading on from

that tip number six is that if someone

does copy a product and let's say they

don't make any changes but you just copy

your product it's validation that you're

good at what you do and once that

happens enough times like it used to

really bother me I would lose sleep over

it and that was many years ago but now

when it happens I don't actually care I

don't mind because that's just the

market telling me that I'm good at what

I do and it gives me more confidence

into developing more products because I

know people want to copy it I know

people are keeping an eye on what I'm

doing so that just gives me more

confidence developing the next products

so just allow it to feed your ego rather

than to piss you off so tip number seven

seven tip number seven is invest in

molds for your product so if it is a

depending on what the product things

that might require a mold whether it's

like plastic steel metal whatever it may

be if it's a new shape or anything like

that

I might require a mold now molds can be

expensive and this therefore causes a

high barrier to entry so either from

your supplier or from any other customer

if let's say if you're still worried

about your supplier who might copy you

now the cool thing about molds is that

it's your custom shape so you have the

opportunity to add your logo onto the

mold so think of any like backpack for

example on the buckles on the shoulder

strap you will see a Nike logo or you'll

see a North Face logo so no one can

really copy their buckles because it's

got their logo on it so if someone if

that factory was to take the mold for

North Face and sell to someone else they

can't because the North Face logo is on

it so make sure if your product has a

mold that you put your logo on the mold

but the most important thing is that

make sure that your mold is embossed not

debossed because if it's debossed it

means your logo is going Inward and it

means they can fill it in but if it's

embossed it means your logo is going to

stick out which means that they can't

fill it in so definitely see if you can

add them all to your product if a mold

was required make sure your logo is

embossed now tip one eight probably one

of my favorites as well is that people

can copy your product but they cannot

copy your brand so ultimate

defensibility is building your own brand

building your own Community now

your customers will buy your products

because they like your brand not

necessarily because it's the cheapest

price so if someone copies your product

they might be able to offer at a

slightly lower price but if their brand

doesn't resonate with that audience then

they're always going to choose you now

look at what you're wearing right now

look what's in front of your desk look

what's in front of you what do you see

there which is a brand that you like

with everything that's in front of you

or what you're wearing what is it that

you bought because we like that brand

and what is it that you bought because

it was a low price so think about that

with your products what experience are

you creating what brand are you building

what community have you got how are you

adding values to that community and

packaging is one of the most important

ways to show your brand to your audience

as well so are you investing in your

packaging are you investing in your

experience what influencers are you

working with how are you promoting your

brand who are you giving your products

to so always think about those sort of

things because people can copy a product

but they cannot copy your brand so guys

I hope you liked that video as well make

sure we stay in touch let's keep in

communication on social on Instagram you

can find me I am Kian underscore JG I've

also got a Facebook group called

sourcing with Kian definitely check that

out it's a really cool Community where

if you have any questions on supply

chain you can post it there as I said

I've also got sourcing platform sourcing

agency which can be found in the link in

the description down below plus loads of

other cool stuff so let's stay in touch

let's stay connected and I will see you

guys on the next video

[Music]

thank you