136 cases related to rights infringement in trade IBUonline is a B2B foreign trade platform which helped China suppliers

and international buyers to complete trade. IBU thinks that traders need to avoid disputes to protect their interest and profit. The statistics showed import and export trade enterprises more often lodged claims for rights infringements. Among the 136 cases that came before the court, more than half of the import and export trade enterprises lost the lawsuits. In addition, enterprises acting as plaintiffs in 540 cases accepted arbitration or withdrew the prosecution, which showed the demands of quite a number of the businesses were not fully satisfied, according to judges. Jiangsu Guotai International Group lost more than $570,000 because it accepted a counterfeit bill of lading after signing a contract with Condex Trading Co based in Hong Kong to purchase 10,000 tons of nickel minerals from the Philippines. A man surnamed Yan handed over the bill of lading by illegally using the account of a Singapore freight corporation to the Jiangsu group. He falsely claimed to be an employee from the Hong Kong Company. The Jiangsu group sued the Singapore Company at Shanghai Maritime Court but lost the case in November. Many small and medium-sized enterprises do not pursue legal measures, according to insiders. Most of the enterprises dont have enough time and money to deal with lawsuits even if they were cheated, said Zhang Beilei, the general manager of Wenzhou Gaotian Shoe Co Ltd, which exports nearly 50 percent of its products to regular clients in Japan. Many Wenzhou merchants had fallen victims to cross-border commercial crimes, she said. Zhang added most Wenzhou merchants were reluctant to sue because the amount claimed usually wouldnt cover the legal costs. There is, of course, always the risk of losing the case. Having four production lines with about 1,000 employees, Zhangs company had never shipped out products before receiving full payment for the order to prevent disputes with overseas clients.

Buying trade insurance via authorized insurance companies for the shipped products could be an effective method for SMEs to avoid being cheated by unreliable clients who refuse or delay making due payments, said Zhang. SMEs are always on the weaker side of disputes and could be more easily cheated as we dont have enough experience and certain professional assistance to deal with them, said Guo Junwei, owner of a clothes factory in Taizhou, Zhejiang province. IBUonline is a B2B foreign trade platform, the third party SGS will help to solve dispute problems if both parties cannot reach an agreement.