What we hold, what we don't, and what we commit to

Who owns the tooling and moulds if the relationship ends?

You do. Tooling and moulds you have paid for are yours, and that does not change when an engagement ends.

The manufacturer relationship is separate and is ours. It is protected by a circumvention clause, so ending the engagement does not hand over the factory. If we part ways, either we forfeit that relationship or the circumvention terms written into your agreement govern what happens to it. Which one applies is written down before you sign, not decided afterwards.

What happens if a defect surfaces after you have accepted the goods?

Nothing leaves the factory uninspected. From the day the goods land at your facility you have 14 days to inspect them and tell us what you found.

Defects inside that window that the pre-shipment inspection did not catch, and that were not caused in transit, are the manufacturer's responsibility. We oversee the rework or the replacement. Credits and refunds are settled case by case, because the right remedy for a cosmetic batch and for a failed tolerance are not the same remedy.

What happens to your deposit if no acceptable factory is found?

You get it back in full. If we cannot find a factory that can make your product, the deposit is refunded.

The exception is where the blocker is on your side: information we asked for and did not get, or engineering problems in the design that still need solving. Those remain yours to resolve, and we will tell you plainly which one we have hit. The refund exists to cover our failure to find a factory, not to underwrite an unfinished specification.

How does either side cancel?

Thirty days' notice, both directions.

If a manufacturer is already in progress you remain liable for the fees you have already agreed to. The circumvention clause survives termination, so access to the supplier relationship still runs through what your agreement says about it.

How are supplier disputes resolved, and under whose law?

Mostly before the project starts. We map the ten to twenty worst things that could go wrong on your specific build and negotiate what happens in each of them while everyone is still friendly. That is the single highest-leverage hour in a sourcing engagement and almost nobody spends it.

Agreements are held on the US side, and we work with a law firm based in Beijing so the NNN contracts are enforceable where the factory actually is. A contract that is only enforceable in a US court is of limited use against a Chinese supplier.

What does Importivity actually warrant on IP?

We never approach a supplier without an NDA signed with Importivity already in place, plus an NDA and an NNN specific to your project.

New vendors are opened with base-level requirements that release nothing privileged. Only after due diligence and the project-specific NDA and NNN are signed does anything IP-protected reach them. Your data and documents are held under password and two-factor authentication throughout.

The distinction that matters: an NDA stops disclosure, an NNN also stops non-use and circumvention. Against a factory, the NNN is the one doing the work, and it is standard on every project rather than something you have to ask for.