Mold ownership inquiry

The Car Models family example

The commercial description below is the representative description for this family only, transcribed from the official site's representative page for this family. It is a family example, not a site-wide rule, and it must not be read as applying to any other family, because each family's commercial terms are confirmed per family, in the inquiry.

For the car models family, the representative description states that everything related will be used for your company only, as stated on the official site's representative page for that family. For the motorcycle, space and airplane, and cartoon character families, the representative descriptions state that molds will be your property, as stated on their respective representative pages. Those statements are family examples, each for its own family, and they are not site-wide rules, because each family's mold terms are confirmed per family, in the inquiry.

A buyer who wants another family should not assume its mold terms from these examples, because families differ, and because a mold term stated for one family may not apply to another, however similar the families appear. Confirm the mold terms for your design, in writing, before payment, because a mold term confirmed after payment is a mold term that cannot be relied on.

What mold ownership means

A mold that belongs to the buyer may be used for the buyer's products only, and it may not be used for another buyer's products, for the manufacturer's own products, or for any purpose the buyer has not agreed to, because the mold is the buyer's tool, paid for by the buyer, for the buyer's designs. A mold whose ownership is unclear may be reused, shared, or withheld, and a buyer who orders without confirming ownership has ordered without knowing who controls the tool that makes their products, and who may use it after their order.

Confirm, in writing, before payment: who owns the mold, what it may be used for, where it is stored, who maintains it, what happens to it when production ends, and what happens to it if the relationship ends, because each answer changes what the mold ownership is worth, and because a mold term that is not written down, with its meaning, is not a term a buyer can rely on.

What to confirm, in the inquiry

Name the design, the material, the scale, the quantity, and the market. Ask for the mold ownership terms for that design, in writing, with their meaning: who owns the mold, what it may be used for, where it is stored, and what happens when production ends. Ask for the minimum order quantity, the lead time with its meaning, the payment and shipping terms, the packaging options, and the certificates that apply to your market, by name, with documents attached. Confirm the mold terms in writing, before payment.