Yeah it's definitely a numbers game. One of the distributors I contract for found that their upstream parts manufacturer stopped making a certain part, and they

Yeah it's definitely a numbers game. One of the distributors I contract for found that their upstream parts manufacturer stopped making a certain part, and they bid on and won the rights to the design and patent. The distributor did some research and found a Chinese (Taiwanese) manufacturer who could manufacture them at scale, sent a sample and a CAD packet, and about two months later received a 100 piece sample set for QA to go over. Every piece passed QA testing flawlessly, and was nearly indistinguishable from the original part. They placed an order for 400 more parts, and when those came in about one in four had issues making it inoperable. The quality control on the purchased, final product was horrible compared to the nearly perfect samples. As a bonus, soon after the deal was finalized they discovered a Chinese vendor on eBay selling the (highly vertical market) part for a fraction of the retail price, but higher than their cost with the new manufacturer. It was obvious what was going on, but how do you sue a Chinese manufacturer who can close shop at the first sniff of lawyers and reopen six months later under a new name? They have the designs so they may as well own the IP, at least in China. These are the kinds of mistakes a small business makes when trying to gamble and cut corners.